


A Breach in Time

by theCelticMyst



Series: A Doctor in Thedas [4]
Category: Doctor Who, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2019-09-20 11:56:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 42
Words: 58,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17022177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theCelticMyst/pseuds/theCelticMyst
Summary: This is the fourth story in the Doctor in Thedas series.  It begins when the White Spire Fell and  will go through the defeat of Corypheus.  The final battle against Fen'Harel will be the fifth story.  This series began with a discussion, between the author and a friend, about Bioware changing canon. This turn into a theory that someone was going back and messing with the timeline. Naturally, they needed someone, say The Doctor, to go fix it. Hence, in the first story it is learned that Elanna Levellan the wife of the Dread Wolf stole Captain Jack Harkness' time device and used it to make it easier for Solas to tear down the veil and defeat his enemies. The Doctor is trying to stop her and repair as much of the timeline as he can. Some he can not and others he decides to change himself. This is the story of what happens in Thedas as events are changed. It is also the story of those in Thedas as they fight Blight, find their destinies, and take a stand. (It's a long drawn out soap opera)





	1. Post Doomsday

**Earth-Alternate Dimension-21 st Century**

 

            Rose Tyler slowly opened her eyes.  She could hear him calling to her.  It was her Doctor.  She hadn’t heard that voice in years, not since her father had appeared and saved her from being sucked into the Void with a group of Dalek’s who were determined to take over _her_ Earth.

            She went to her parents and told them what was happening.  They agreed to come with her.  So they got into her dad’s old jeep and off they went, following the Doctor’s voice.  They crossed the water and kept driving hundreds and hundreds of miles. They found themselves on a beach in Norway.

            Rose couldn’t stop, though.  _He_ was calling to her.  She walked along the beach, looking.  Waves crashed lifting and falling as they rushed to the shore.  Then _he_ appeared behind her, her Doctor.  She could see through him as if he were a ghost.  “Where are you?”

            “Inside the TARDIS,” he answered her.  “There’s one tiny little gap in the universe left.  Just about to close.  And it takes a lot of power to send this projection.  I’m in orbit around a supernova.  I’m burning up a sun just to say goodbye.”  He cracked a little smile as his ship twirled around the supernova.”

            “You look like a ghost.”  She shook her head.

            “Hold on,” she could see him lifting his sonic screwdriver.

 

 

In the TARDIS, the Doctor lifted his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the controls.  As he did so, he became more solid before her eyes.  She slowly approached him and lifted a hand as if to touch his face.  He remembered a hundred touches and yearned for more.  “Can I…?”

             His eyebrows lifted and drew together.  “I’m still just an image.  No touch.”  How he wanted to be able to touch her again.

            Her eyes widened as they filled with tears.  “Can’t you come through properly?”

            “The whole thing would fracture,” his voice dripped with regret.  “Two universes would collapse.”

            She shook her head.  “So?”

            Now he smiled.  His darling Rose, speaking her mind.  “Where are we?”  He looked around, trying to see where she was.  Where did the gap come out?”

            “We’re in Norway,” she explained.

            “Norway,” he nodded, despite his confusion.  Why would it be Norway?  “Right.”

            “About 50 miles out of Bergen,” she added.  “It’s called Darlig Ulv Stranden.”

            “Dalek?”  His eyebrows drew together even further and his nose crinkled.

            “Darlig,” she corrected him.  A smile spread across her face.  “It’s Norwegian for bad.  This translates as Bad Wolf Bay.”  They both chuckled at the irony.  Was it any wonder that the connection between them would linger here?  Her smile faded.  “How long have we got?”

            “About two minutes,” he didn’t want to say goodbye.

            She moved her blowing hair out of her face.  “I can’t think what to say.”

            He laughed a bit at that.  She’d rarely been at a loss for words.  “Have you still got Mr. Mickey, then?”  He referred to the man who had once been her boyfriend.  Well, they were dating when he met Rose, but Mickey had been more serious about Rose than she had about him.  Mickey had stayed back in the alternate reality when he realized that he would never truly have Rose.  The Doctor was too much of a competition.  Yet Mickey had traveled back to her when the Dalek space ship had escaped a void allowing the Cybermen, who’d first been mistaken for ghosts, to come through to the Doctor’s reality.

            “There are five of us now,” Rose revealed.  “Mum, dad, Mickey, and the baby.”

            The Doctor couldn’t keep the distress from his voice.  “You’re not…”

            “No,” she shook her head.  Did he still not realize that Mickey wasn’t who she wanted?  “It’s mum.  She’s three months gone, more Tylers on the way.”

            Relief and conflict washed across the Doctor’s face.  “What about you?”

            “Yeah,” she looked out to the ocean for a moment.  “I’m back working in the shop.”  She looked back at him.

            He just nodded.  “Well, good for you.”

            “Shut up,” she knew him better than that and could see when he was trying to hide his disappointment.  Besides, she’d only been teasing.  “Nah, I’m not.  There’s still a Torchwood on this planet.  It’s open for business.  I think I know a thing or two about aliens.”

            “Rose Tyler,” a huge grin spread back across the Doctor’s face.  “Defender of the Earth.  You’re dead, officially, back home.  So many people died that day and you’ve gone missing.  You’re on a list of the dead.  But here you are, living a life, day after day.  The one adventure I can never have.”

            Now her tears began to fall.  “Am I ever going to see you again?”

            “You can’t,” he shook his head.

            “What are you going to do?”  She managed to say between her tears.

            “I’ve got the TARDIS,” he reminded her.  “Same old Life, Last of the Time Lords.”

            She shook her head.  “On your own?”  She might not be able to be with him anymore, but she wanted him to have someone to keep him company.  He just nodded.  “I…”  She closed her eyes and bowed her head as she tried to get control of herself again.  “I love you.”

            He swallowed hard.  “Quite right, too.”  They gazed at each other for another moment.  “And I suppose… it’s my last chance to say it.  Rose Tyler…”  He disappeared.

            Rose found herself alone on the beach.  She put a hand over her eyes as a flood of tears burst free.  The hand slipped to her mouth.  The man she loved, the only one she truly wanted to be with, was gone.  The tears just wouldn’t stop.

            After several moments, Jackie ran to her.  She wasn’t alone.  Rose met her halfway and let her mother hold her as she sobbed uncontrollably.

 

 

            The Doctor found himself alone in the TARDIS, with tears streaming down his face.  No!  He had just lost his one chance to tell her, the woman who meant everything to him, how he felt.  He lowered his head and just let the tears flow.  After several moments he wiped tears away as he turned back to his controls.  He couldn’t stay, he had to do something.  As he looked up, he saw a woman in a wedding dress.  “What?”

            The woman turned around, revealing flame red hair, large green eyes, and an extremely startled expression.  She let out a sound halfway between a shriek and a gasp.

            “What?”  He repeated.

            “Who are you?” She demanded to know.  “Where am I?”

            His eyebrows drew together.  “What?”

            Her voice grew shrill.  “What the Hell is this place?”

            “What?”  He repeated again.

            The Doctor had just met Donna Noble for the first time.


	2. Wake up time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mythal, finally, gets into the cave to wake up her friend.

**Vemmark Mountains-Thedas**

**Dragon: 9:39**

            _Finally,_ the creature was gone.  He had appeared as a dwarf, only ever saying ‘enchantment’, but he had kept her from her goal.  Mythal moved forward through the dark cavern.  The light on the end of her staff lit the stones around her and bats flew overhead.  It was time for an old friend to wake up.  She’d walked Thedas, alone, for far too long.


	3. The Tower Has Fallen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Word of the White Spire reaches Ostwick.

**Ostwick**

**Dragon 9:40**

            “I’m telling you, that horse hates me,” Brenna stabbed a piece of chicken with a fork.

            “Darling, Gabi does not hate you,” Brenna’s fiancé, Teyrn Fergus Cousland, insisted.  He looked around the table where he sat and gazed at his future in-laws.  Brenna’s parents avoided his eyes.  He then looked to her twin brother, Brian, who just shook his head.  Next were their younger siblings; the two Chantry clerks, Charlotte and Daniel… or was it David?... and a mage, Evelyn, who was affectionately called Evie by all who knew her.  Their older sister, Abigail, was in her bed.  The woman was suffering from a case of the Orlesian Pox.  Fergus suspected that she had caught it almost two years ago when she’d slept with Arl Teagan Guerrin at a party he’d thrown in Highever a couple of years before.  She’d hidden her symptoms for too long and now her family feared that she was dying.

            “I don’t know,” the youngest, Evelyn, shook her head.  “The horse waited until you were near the lake and then threw you off so you landed in the water.  I would say that was deliberate.”  Fergus had taken Brenna down to the lake to propose to her.  He and Bann Trevelyan had yet to discuss a dowry or make announcements, but he wanted to ask Brenna first.  Despite being dripping wet, she’d said yes.

            Fergus studied Evie for moment, she was not only the bann’s youngest child, she was also a mage.  Her father’s power and money afforded her freedoms that many other mages didn’t have.  Her ability to visit her father’s estate was an example of those freedoms, even if she were still in the company of two of Ostwick’s finest Templars; the twins Brian and Brenna Trevelyan.  “How are things at the Circle?” The rumors coming out of the mage circles bothered Fergus.

            “We had a visit from Marian Hawke and her family,” Evelyn casually admitted.  “I won’t discuss any more than that in front of Templars, even my own siblings.”  She changed the subject to something Fergus found a bit more upsetting.  “I’m hearing disturbing rumors of disappearances in Ferelden.”

            “The disappearance of the Hero of Ferelden has hit everyone hard,” Fergus couldn’t admit, even to himself, that his _sister_ was missing.  If he referred to her as just the Hero of Ferelden it hurt slightly less, but he worried just as much.

            “What about the missing Grey Wardens?”  Evelyn pressed.  “I have a friend among them.  No one has seen the Grey Wardens stationed at Amaranthine in over a year.”

            “They haven’t?”  This was news to Fergus, disturbing news.  He knew a few of those Wardens.  His relationship with one of them was… complicated.

            “Isn’t the Hero of Ferelden also a Grey Warden?”  Lady Trevelyan recalled.  “Perhaps the disappearances are connected.”

            “It’s a possibility,” Fergus admitted.  “I’ll go to Denerim as soon as I return to Ferelden.  I want to get to the bottom of this.  Elissa’s disappearance is disturbing enough.  To have Neria and her men go missing as well is disturbing.”

            “I forgot you knew Warden Surana,” Brenna’s voice didn’t quite hide her jealousy.

            Fergus was taken aback.  How much did Brenna know of his past with Neria?  There was nothing left to be jealous of.  He was a Teyrn of Ferelden.  Neria was an elven mage who’d become a Grey Warden Commander.  Those titles defined much of what their relationship could ever be.  “She is a good friend.”

            “She is another victim of the Chantry’s backwards dogma,” Evelyn muttered.  She’d met Neria personally and liked the woman a lot.  She’d was also aware that Fergus and Neria’s feelings for each other were not platonic, but had never revealed that to her sister.

            “Evie!”  Her mother gasped.

            “I’ll excuse myself, mother,” she stood.  “I’m no healer, but I’d like to check on Abby before I return to the Circle.”

            The dining room door crashed open and a servant burst into the room and bowed.  “I’m sorry to disturb dinner, but…”  He stopped to catch his breath.  “It’s news from Orlais.  There was an… incident at the White Spire in Val Royeaux.  The Templars attacked the College of Magi when they voted to separate themselves from the Chantry.  Full out war is expected.”

            Brian stood and moved to Evie’s side.  “We need to get back.”

 

            The Trevelyans weren’t even to the tower that housed Ostwick’s Circle when they were intercepted by the Grand Enchanter and Knight Commander.  The Grand Enchanter led Evelyn away while the Knight Commander gave orders to her Templars.

            “Things are getting violent all over Thedas,” Grand Enchanter Robert informed Evelyn.  “We have been able to maintain peace in the city so far, but half of our circle is already heading south to join the rebellion.  I am gathering the rest of the Circle together to decide our next course.  The Templars are being called to Val Royeaux.  Maker help us.”


	4. Our Hero is Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leliana goes to Denerim to recruit Elissa.

**Denerim**

            “I don’t want to talk about my personal life, we need to talk about yours,” Eamon insisted.  He thought of himself as the King’s Chief Advisor, which caused friction in the castle and with the queen before she had disappeared.

            “Eamon, your brother’s doctors reported that he will live, but the disease has worn out his body,” Alistair, the King of Ferelden, told his old friend.  “Edgehill’s wife and Bann Trevelyan’s daughter were not so lucky.  Edgehill is burying his wife in two days’ time and Trevelyan’s daughter, Abigail, isn’t expected to live out the month.  He has already sued the Chantry to let his second born, Brian who is the older of his twins, to be free of his Templar duties in order to be able to inherit.

            “The Chantry doesn’t like to give up Templars,” Eamon pursed his lips in thought.  “I can’t see them allowing it.”

            “The Trevelyans are a very devout family,” Alistair disagreed with him.  “His youngest children are all clerics, except the youngest, that is.  She’s a mage.”

            If mages were allowed to inherit land, Eamon’s son, Connor, would now be the Arl of Redcliffe.  As it was, his brother was arl and his son was in a Circle.  At least he had been in Kinloch Hold, Ferelden’s Circle of Magi, until the Mage-Templar war had begun.  Now the mage towers were now all emptied.  “What of…” Eamon had recently become engaged to his mistress and there was one woman he didn’t want to speak of, but he had to.  “What of Isolde?”  His ex-wife had been given to his brother as a bride by the Chantry.  The arrangement meant his daughter would be the next arl, but she was beginning to show possible signs of magic according to the letter Isolde had sent him.  He hated the thought that she would be struck down by the Orlesian pox, as two of the women his brother had cheated on her with had been.

            “I don’t know,” Alistair admitted.  “I’ll have someone check on her.”  That was the sort of thing that Elissa always took care of, but she wasn’t there anymore.

            “We could have Princess Polyxena of Nevarra’s entourage check on their way here,” Eamon suggested.

            “Why is the King of Nevarra’s youngest daughter coming for a visit?” Alistair didn’t remember inviting her.  He’d check with his wife’s spymasters.  They might know.  Grainne hadn’t been happy about something for a week now and he now needed to find out why.  He’d hoped she just missed Elissa as he did.

            “Yes, why is she coming?” A familiar redhead with a light Orlesian accent walked into the room.  On either side of her were Grainne and Gertrude, Elissa’s spymasters.  The two women had played spy versus spy with Leliana, the Left Hand of the Divine.  They had never escorted her into the Palace of Denerim before.

            “Weren’t you banished from Ferelden?” Eamon narrowed his eyes at Leliana.

            “I would like her question answered myself,” Gertrude crossed her arms.

            “I’m here to talk to Elissa and I’m not leaving until I do,” Leliana also crossed her arms, unaware of the similarity to Gertrude’s posture.

            “Just throw her in the dungeon and be done with it,” Eamon snarled.

            “You wouldn’t be suggesting that if Elissa were around,” Grainne took an aggressive step towards the former arl.  “You wouldn’t be doing a lot of things that you are now, would you?”

            “Elissa is missing,” Alistair admitted.  “I was in Kirkwall two years ago with Teagan.  When I arrived back in Denerim, she had left me a note that she had gone off with the Doctor and should be home before I was.  She has yet to return.”  He didn’t add that after less than a year, Eamon had declared that she was never coming back and proceeded to try and find a new queen for him.  He didn’t want a new queen, he wanted his beloved wife.  She had said something about finding a cure for the Grey Warden’s Calling.

            “Does her disappearance have anything to do with the disappearance of the Grey Wardens in Amaranthine?”  Leliana pressed.

            “You know about that?” Gertrude almost regretted that Leliana was the Left Hand of the Divine, which made her a rival rather than an ally.

            “We’re looking into that matter,” Eamon waved the question away.

            “You still haven’t answered why a Navarran princess is coming,” Leliana pressed.  She’d had a falling out with Elissa years before.  She’d become the Left Hand of Divine Justinia, who’d once been her good friend Reverend Mother Dorothea, and in the process lost the trust and affection of someone she thought of as a sister.  Dorothea had rescued her after Marjoline had framed her for treason against Orlais.  They’d grown close and were good friends and confidants.  When she’d become Divine, she’d sent for Leliana and made her her Left Hand.  Then she’d asked her to reveal the secrets she knew about the rulers of Thedas, including Alistair and Elissa.  She’d told her everything.  Elissa had deduced as much and confronted her.  During the confrontation, she’d somehow stolen the papers Leliana had on her person and she’d banished her.  The banishment from her life, and the silence that had followed, had hurt more than the exile from Ferelden; which was the land of her origin, despite having grown up in Orlais.  Now she and all of Thedas needed her best friend, or rather former best friend, and she was being told that Elissa had disappeared.

            “Eamon has brought her for Alistair to woo,” Gertrude answered.

            Leliana uncrossed her arms and took an aggressive step towards her old friend and comrade in arms.  “Elissa’s been only missing for two years, and is possibly on a quest that will aid you and you are _entertaining_ other women?”

            “No,” Alistair assured her.  “I don’t want anyone, but her.  I’ll wait a hundred years for her to be back at my side if I have to.  Eamon, on the other hand, keeps insisting on parading Thedas’ most marriageable maidens in front of me.  Personally, I think he’s having cold feet as his own wedding to Ylainie is scheduled in five months’ time and he wants a reason to delay it longer.  I, however, am a married man and have not forgotten that.”

            “Ah, yes, the Orlesian Eclair,” Leliana knew of the woman who had been manipulating Eamon since before his break with Isolde.  She also knew where his heart truly lay, even if he didn’t.  “You brought her in to spy on the queen, didn’t you?”  She glanced at the two women on either side of her.  Officially, they were Elissa’s Mistress of the Wardrobe and Mistress of Revelries.  She had gathered enough information from Denerim to know that wasn’t their only duties.  She now suspected that Gertrude was Ferelden’s spy mistress.  She had been in the Denerim Chantry when Leliana had been there on secret business for the Divine and it was papers gathered in that investigation that Elissa had stolen.  “I’m surprised neither of you caught that.”

            “It was as obvious as an Orlesian in a tacky dress shop,” Gertrude wrinkled her nose.  “We just weren’t going to advertise to Eamon that his spy was so obvious.  Thank you for letting the mabari out of the sack.”

            Leliana blanched, realizing she’d just ruined some game she hadn’t been let in on.  “If Elissa returns, please let me know.  Thedas needs her again.  I... and I’m worried for her.  Tell her… I’m…”

            “Still working for the Divine and loyal to her?” Alistair interrupted. 

            So all was still not forgiven. Leliana merely nodded and left.

            “Leliana, I’ll tell her you were looking for her, but you know she would never help your Divine throw the mages back in their cages,” Alistair called after her.  He missed his wife and knew that if she were there, she’d be championing the mages as they fought for their freedom.


	5. Seeking in Kirkwall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra goes to Kirkwall to recruit.

**Kirkwall**

            Varric Tethras sat across from a small group of smugglers who were armed to the teeth.  He leaned back as he took a drink of his ale.  “What can I do for you gentlemen?”

            “Well…”  The leader of the gang sat down across from Varric and propped up his legs on the table.  “I’ve been authorized to ask this on behalf of  Herren and Dawe, as well as my own group.  We’d like you to bring your friend Hawke back to Kirkwall.”

            “Umm…”  Marian was travelling with Anders and Bethany.  They were a driving force behind the mage rebellion and weren’t planning to stop until all the Circles had fallen.  “Didn’t she kill some of your men?”

            “That was just business,” Finn the Smuggler shrugged.  “They were over enthusiastic and attacked her, but we’d worked all of that out.  You even have a shop that was thriving in the tunnels under Kirkwall.”

            “What do you mean by _was_ thriving?  Why is that now in the past tense?” Varric would have to have a word with his manager.

            “Ever since Commander Meredith became a red lyrium statue stuck to the grounds of the Gallows, Commander Cullen and Aveline have teamed up.  Together they are getting in the way of all businesses that they deem to be less than… legal.  They are sending Templars and guardsman out together.”

            Varric knew that many of the Templars had stayed in Kirkwall with Cullen when their fellows had joined the craziness and were off fighting to re-imprison the mages.  “I’ll talk to Aveline,” he took a deep drink.  “No, I might have more luck with Cullen.  He keeps talking about possibly leaving the Templars, anyway.  Perhaps I could persuade him to do so.”

            “It would be appreciated,” Finn nodded.   “We would also like more Anders dolls and Ferelden style hats to be added to the shop.”

            “Anders dolls?” Varric might have to give his manager a raise.  He wasn’t aware someone was making Anders dolls.  “When did dolls become popular among the smugglers?  Anders used to have one that sort of resembled Meredith, which is liked to poke pins in.”

            One of Finn’s men muttered to his boss.  “Sorry, Anders action figures.  There are also some of Hawke and her other friends.  You are even carrying models of the chantry that Anders can blow up.  It can be reassembled to be blown up again, of course.”

            “Of course,” Varric took another drink as he wondered what his ‘action figure’ looked like.  It would be strong and virile, of course.  It would also have to have amazing chest hair and be incredibly handsome.

He was startled when Finn jumped out of his seat and backed away from the table.  Turning, he noticed a group of armed men and women entering the Hanged Man.  Their armor was nondescript, except for the eye with a sword running through it, set before a sun, on their chest plates.  The sun reminded him of a chantry symbol, but he had never seen the rest.

            “Varric Tethras,” one of them shouted at the room.  The bartender shrugged and shook his head, but one of the other patrons pointed him out.

            “I think you guys might want to go,” Varric suggested to the smugglers.  He then grabbed the chair he was sitting in and hit the closest soldier with it.  He hadn’t exactly gotten out of the chair.  He had leaned forward and hit the soldier with the legs, while his butt was still in the seat.  Then he grabbed the back as he fully lifted to his feet and used it to hit a second soldier.

            “Someone wants to talk to you, Tethras,” another soldier announced.

            “Well, I don’t feel like talking to them,” he took a swig of his drink and jumped on the table, glass in hand.  When the soldiers continued to advance, he swung and hit the advancing man with the glass.  Five others pounced on him, fists pummeling.  He managed to knock two of them off of him and gave a third a swift kick.  Then two more soldiers joined the fray, planting two good hits and pinning his arms behind him.

            “Remember that it took a dozen of you to take down one dwarf,” Varric sneered.  “There are words for people like you… coward and loser.”

            “You’re coming with us,” one of the soldiers on the ground growled as he slowly got his feet back under him, wobbling.

            The soldiers dragged Varric away.

 

 

            Varric found himself being dragged down a long corridor.  It looked familiar, as a door was kicked open, he realized it was to the Viscount’s throne room.  The room had only been used for clandestine meetings since the last viscount had been killed by a crazy, homicidal Qunari.  The torches along the hall were lit, casting eerie shadows.  The room itself was also only lit by black braziers and lanterns, causing shadows to play against the wall.

            Rough hands through him into the throne and another person entered.  It was a dark haired woman holding a book.  Her armor was similar, but better made, to the ruffians who had interrupted his drinking.  Her hair was short, but a long braid wound around her head.  She opened the book and thumbed through a few pages.  He recognized the book and the page she was on.  It was _The Tale of the Champion_ , his latest book; as well as one of his most successful novels.  The page showed a picture of Marian Hawke and her companions.  “I’ve had gentler invitations.”  He put a hand to his forehead trying to control his dizziness.

            “I am Cassandra Penteghast,” the woman introduced herself.  “Seeker of the Chantry.”  She motioned with her head to someone he couldn’t see, someone hiding in the shadows.  Two guards moved out and those who had dragged him followed them out into the hallway.

            Varric chuckled, hiding his fear of the formidable woman.  “Just what are you seeking?”

            “The Champion,” she said simply.

            Varric studied his gloved hand.  So the woman didn’t know that Marian was one of the forces behind the mage rebellion.  “Which one?”

            “You know exactly who I mean!”  She hit him with the book and then threw it at his face.  It landed on his lap, opening up.  Then she pulled a long dagger out.  The tip caressed his throat.  He could see the flecks of gold in her dark brown eyes.  “Time to start talking dwarf.  They tell me you’re good at it.”  She stabbed the dagger into the book, running it through.

            Varric lifted the book up and studied the damage.  What type of psychotic pervert would impale a book?  “What do you want to know?”

            She turned back to him.  “Everything.  Start at the beginning.”

            He noticed that she’d impaled the symbol of Kirkwall on her dagger.  “This is going to take a while.  We may need to send your men out to get us dinner.  Marian Hawke was born in Ferelden in Dragon 9:11.  She was the firstborn child of Malcom Hawke and his wife, Leandra Amell-Hawke.  Actually, we need to start with their stories.  The Amells were an old noble family in Kirkwall who had the stigmatism of magic running through their blood.  Malcom was a prisoner in the Gallows…”

 

 

            The sun had set and risen again by the time Varric was done telling his story.  There were several guards sitting and laying around the room, listening.  Cassandra had yelled at them, but they kept pointing out that they were now off duty and really wanted to hear the rest of the tale.

            “… word of the slaughter spread quickly,” Varric’s continued on with the story.  “The Champion’s name became a rallying cry, a reminder that the mighty Templars could be defied.  She had defended the mages against a brutal injustice and many had lived to tell the tale.  The Circles rose up and set the world on fire.  More Templars arrived at Kirkwall to restore order, but we were already long gone.  We seemed to have vanished into the hills and circumstance eventually forced us all to leave the Champion’s side.  Well… all of us except for Anders.  You still hear the stories, of course.  With each telling they grow, even if at the core remains the truth.  A legend had been born.  So that’s it,” Varric leaned back in the chair.  “That’s the whole story.”

            “Then Meredith provoked the Circle,” Cassandra realized.  “She was to blame.”

            “Or that damned idol was,” Varric had told her how Meredith’s sword had been made from the idol his brother Bartrand had taken from an ancient Thaig they’d found.  “Anders’ unwelcomed companion could also take his share of finger pointing.  Take your pick.”

            “Even so, had the Champion not been there…”  Cassandra pondered.

            “It might not have even gotten that far,” Varric speculated.  He didn’t add that Kirkwall would have been destroyed by Qunari years before.

            “I see.”  Cassandra narrowed her eyes.

            “If you retreated to the hills, then why did we find you in the Hanged Man?” One of the guards wondered.

            “I have businesses that needed my attention,” Varric shrugged.  “Besides, I just said it seemed as if we had.”

            “What about this mysterious Doctor?” Cassandra pressed.  Varric had mentioned someone he called the Doctor, or Healer, several times in his story.  He’d aided in both the fight against the Qunari and the battle against Meredith.  “Where is he now?”

            Varric shrugged.  “He goes where ever he wants, whenever he wants.  I did mention the times that he took Marian to Orlais and Ferelden, didn’t I?  He popped in so she and Bethany could enjoy Antivan Coffee and chocolate at a little café in Orlais.  He pops in, helps, and leaves.  How is knowing what happened to Hawke for the last ten years going to help?  You’ve already lost all the Circles.  In fact, haven’t the Templars rebelled as well?  I thought you’d decided to abandon the Chantry to hunt the mages.”

            “Not after you told us of how beautiful the love between Hawke and Anders is,” a gruff guard observed.

            Cassandra ignored him.  “Not all of us desire war, Varric.  Please, if you know where the Champion is, you must tell me.  She is a hero, a woman the mages would listen to, someone who was there at the beginning.  The Champion could stop this madness before it’s too late.  She may be the only one who can.”

            “Is that what this is all about?”  Varric seethed at the thought that they wanted Marian to jump into another war to solve their problems.  They didn’t care about her.  “In that case, I wish I could help you.  The last time I saw her, however, was when she left in the company of the Doctor.”

            Cassandra bowed her head.  “Just tell me one thing, then.  Is the Champion dead?”

            “Oh,” Varric half shrugged.  “I doubt that.”

            “Then you are free to go, Varric” Cassandra declared.  “May the Maker watch over you during the dark times ahead of us.”

            Varric watched her go.  “Same to you, Seeker, same to you.”  He stood, but two new guards, with their hands on the hilt of their swords walked in.  “I guess I’m not free to go.”

 

 

            Cassandra made her way through the Viscount’s Keep and stepped out into Hightown.  She still had several things that she needed to do before leaving Kirkwall.

            “So,” a voice drifted out of the dark.  “Did you…?”

            “Gone,” Cassandra’s voice was terse.  “Just like the Warden.”

            Leliana walked between two lines of soldiers to Cassandra.  “That is no coincidence.  Was she last scene with someone called the Doctor?”

            “Varric mentioned such a person,” Cassandra agreed.  “So, do we proceed with the original plan or keep looking?  This Doctor can’t hide them from us for long.”

            “He can, believe me.  It is in the Maker’s hands now,” Leliana declared.  She wasn’t going to try to explain the Doctor to her friend.  “We put our faith in him.”  She took a large tome from Cassandra.

            Cassandra followed the soldiers as Leliana watched them.  She looked down at the book, the cover sported an eye with rays like the sun.  Why had the Doctor taken Thedas’ greatest warriors in their time of need?

 

 

            Cassandra’s soldiers led her to the Gallows.  She could see the statue of Meredith, made from red lyrium, in the middle of the courtyard.  There were no other statues left.  “Wasn’t this place lined with statues before?”

            “The people of Kirkwall have become mistrustful of them,” one of the soldiers she’d brought with her to Kirkwall reported.  “I’m not exactly sure what happened, but those not destroyed during the uprising have been smashed since.  Meredith is left, because no one is willing to touch her.”

            She nodded, pondering Varric’s claims of killer statues who moved on their own and made their victims disappear.  She made her way to the office of the Templar Knight Commander.  The office was now occupied by a handsome blonde man.  The locals whispered that Knight Commander Cullen looked better since the demise of his predecessor.  Some speculated that Meredith had used blood magic to control him and, now that he was free, his skin had gained vibrancy and his hair had lightened.  A couple of his men whispered that he had stopped taking lyrium and it had done wonders for his skin and hair.  They were considering going off of the stuff as well.  Cassandra knew that could kill him.  “Commander Cullen.”  Her voice was clipped.

            Cullen looked up at her and nodded.  “Seeker.  What can I do for you?”

            “I came looking for the Champion,” she admitted.  “Yet no one knows where she is.”

            “She left shortly after the uprising,” Cullen confirmed.  “The last I heard of her, she was inciting other Circles to rise up as well.  It seems she, and her family, succeeded.”

            “Her family?” Cassandra repeated. 

            “She was with her sisters and Anders,” Cullen clarified.  “I hope Anders, finally, married her.  She’d been hinting around that that’s what she wanted for years.  Besides, I have heard rumors that she was pregnant when she left.”

            “How do you know so much?”  Cassandra crossed her arms.

            “I…”  He let out a breath.  “A lot of things used to come up during Varric’s Wicked Grace games.  I joined them sometimes at the Hanged Man, as did Carver.  Carver was one of the Templars who was assigned here at the Gallows.  He is also Hawke’s brother.  It is important that we maintain a presence in the community so the people don’t become distrustful of the Templars in their city, after all.”

            Recruiting the wife of the mage who’d blown up the Chantry might have caused problems with the Chantry, Cassandra realized.  Still, she was needed, as was Cullen.  “I’ve also heard rumors about you, Commander.”

            He steepled his fingers.  “What sort of rumors?”

            “You have been thinking about leaving the Templars,” her tone was succinct. 

            He leaned back.  “I have,” he admitted.  “It isn’t just that so many of our number have gone insane and fled to fight the mages, I have become… disenchanted with the Templar Order.  It isn’t the honorable Andrastian order that I once thought it to be.  It… well, let’s just say some unjust feelings that I once harbored were nurtured and encouraged.”

            “How would you like to truly serve Andraste?” Cassandra leaned forward.  “To become part of something bigger and to help save Thedas.”

            “That sounds good,” Cullen admitted.  “What are you suggesting?”

            “The Divine has decided to resurrect the Inquisition of Old,” she announced.  “She is determined to bring peace and order back to southern Thedas.  I would like you to command the military branch of the organization.”  She placed the large tome she still carried on the desk between them and slid it towards him.

            “Who will be the Inquisitor?” He wondered as he opened the book.

            Cassandra let out a little cough.  “We’re… still working on that.  We’d hoped to get the Champion or the Hero of Ferelden, but they’re both missing.”

            “The Hero of Ferelden is missing?”  He’d seemed so distressed.  It was as though she had some personal meaning to him.

            “We’ll manage without one for now,” Cassandra promised.  “The important thing is to save Thedas.”

            Cullen nodded.  “I’ll be happy to join.  I think it’s time I serve the Maker and Thedas in a different manner.”

 

 

            It was only two nights later that the representatives of the Inquisition sailed across the Waking Sea to Ferelden.  They were going to join the Divine in the City of Haven, where the Temple of Andraste stood.

            Varric split his time between being sea sick and glaring angrily at Cassandra.  He was her prisoner, being dragged to meet the Divine.  This is why he never attended church.

            Cullen gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder before sitting at Cassandra’s side.  “There is something else I need to tell you.  I should have told you before I agree to command the Inquisition.”

            “What is it?”  She knew him to be a devout Andrastian and didn’t know what else might matter.

            “I stopped taking lyrium over a year ago,” he revealed.  “As you are a Seeker and I was a Templar, I should have told you, anyway.”

            Her eyes widened.  “Lyrium withdrawal could kill you.”

            “If… If possible, I’d like to ask you to keep an eye on me,” he hated asking for help.  “I want to serve, but I need you to make sure I’m fit to.”

            “I will,” she vowed.  “I will help you during this internal battle and I will help


	6. Meanwhile, on Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor faces the Master

**Earth-21 st Century – 2 years after losing Rose**

            The Master had taken over Earth.  The people were enslaved and the Doctor defeated.  Captain Jack Harkness had been with him and had also been enslaved, forced to work for the Master himself. 

            The Doctor’s companion, Martha had walked the Earth for a year.  Some said she was looking for a weapon to defeat the Master.  Her family was trapped with Jack, but she’d escaped.  However, upon her return to England, she was betrayed by someone who should have been an ally and taken to the Master.  She’d had time to think during her long trek.  She thought about her feelings for the Doctor and how she would always play second fiddle to Rose, despite the other woman being trapped in another dimension.  She thought about the medical residency she couldn’t do if she continued to travel with the Doctor, and she thought about her family who were now in danger because of her decisions.

            When she’d been captured, the Master had intended to kill her.  However, Michael, a man she realized she could learn to love, had jumped in front of the Master’s strange laser beam.  The Master had only laughed.  That’s when he decided that he had to kill her in front of the Doctor.  So she was taken to his airship moments before he planned to use Earth’s resources to start a war that would destroy the planet.

            As she marched into the main galley of the ship, she could see the Master and his Companion at the top of a set of stairs.  Lucy Saxon wore a red dress and a look of utter misery.  To one side was Martha’s family, guarded by men with guns.  On the other side was Jack, looking dirty and disheveled, but still handsome.

            In the middle of the room, in a cage, was the Doctor.  He looked old and his skin was extremely shriveled.  It was the work of The Master.  His eyes gleamed with sadness as he watched Martha walk by. 

            As Martha stopped before the Master, Jack stepped in front of her.  A man with a very large gun stopped him.

            The Master held out his hand.  “The teleport device, in case you thought I’d forgotten.”

            Martha reached down and withdrew from a side pocket on her pants Jack’s teleportation device.  It was the same one that had once been stolen by Elanna Lavellan and used to alter the past of Thedas, a continent on a distant planet.  She’d altered events to bring victory to her husband, the man elves worshipped as the God Fin’Harel.  Jack and the Doctor had been trying to set things right in that world, but hadn’t returned since the Doctor left to take Rose to a visit with her mother.  Things had gone awry on that visit. 

            “And now,” the Master continued.  “Kneel.”  He didn’t bother to gloat as Martha followed his instructions.  Instead he looked to his men.  “Down below, the fleet is ready to launch.  200,000 ships to burn across the universe.” 

            Martha glared as the Master skipped to a communications device.  He was going to destroy the universe with a bounce in his step.  “Are we ready?”

            A man’s voice came through the communicator.  “The fleet awaits your signal, rejoice!”

            The Master grinned at Lucy and then checked his watch.  “Three minutes to align the black hole converters.  Counting down,” a clock beside him did just that.

            Jack looked at the ticking clock.  The Master had destroyed Torchwood and his friends with it.  Perhaps he should have brought a mage back from his visit to Thedas.  It looked like they could use some magic now.  He knew one that liked to blow things up. 

The Master followed his eyes and chuckled.  “I never could resist a ticking clock.”  He called through his communicator.  “My children, are you ready?”

In the space orbiting Earth, the Toclafane answered.  They had once been the last remnant of the human race, but had been warped into something horrible and then brought billions upon billions of years into the past to kill their own ancient ancestors.  “We will fly and blaze and slice!  We will fly and blaze and slice!”

“They need a new catchphrase,” Jack commented, receiving a butt of a gun in his stomach as a response.  He let out a little grunt, but otherwise just wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at the guard.

“At zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones will die,” the Master gloried in his victory.  He looked to her silent family and then to Martha.  “My first blood,” he chuckled affectionately.  “Any last words?”  She just glared at him.  “No?”  He looked to the wizened Doctor who just blinked at him.  “Such a disappointment, this one.  Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex!  This one’s useless!  Bow your head.”  He pointed his laser at him.

The Master somehow knew how much his reference to Rose would sting Martha and cause the Doctor’s heart to ache at his loss.  Even Jack’s expression fell at the mention of his lost friend; yet his heart soared knowing that, trapped in an alternate dimension, she would be spared the destruction at the Master’s hand.

The Master continued his monologuing.  “And so it falls to me, as master of all, to establish from this day a new order of Time Lords.”  At first, he didn’t notice Martha’s light laughter at his words.  “From this day forward…” 

Her laughing increased.  Her family looked at her nervously.

The Master’s eyes darted for a moment and he subtly twitched.  “What?  What’s so funny?”

Martha slowly raised her head.  “A gun?”

“What about it?”  The Master lowered his laser.

“A gun?”  She repeated, referring to the weapon he’d thought he’d destroyed.  “A gun in four parts?”

“Yes,” he knew of the weapon she spoke of, the one that was said to be able to obliterate him.  _Him_.  “And I destroyed it.”

“A gun in four parts scattered around the world?”  She was still surprised that a supposed genius had fallen for the ploy.  “I mean, come on!  Did you really believe that?”

“What do you mean?” The Master still couldn’t comprehend that he’d been fooled.

“As if I would ask her to kill,” the Doctor gripped the bars of his cage.  He didn’t mention how many of his former companions were more than willing to do so.

“Oh, well, it doesn’t matter,” the Master lifted his arms to his sides.  “I’ve got her exactly where I want her.”

“But I knew what Professor Docherty would do,” Martha countered.  “The resistance knew about her son,” she’d even dropped a hint, but the professor hadn’t understood.  “I told her about the gun so she’d get me here.  At the right time.”

The Master rolled his head, as if trying to relieve an annoying ache.  “But you’re still going to die.  I wish I’d met Rose, why doesn’t the Doctor still have his clever, blonde companion?  Stiill, the thought of getting to kill you, annoying Martha, brings a smile to my face.

“Don’t you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?” Martha taunted.

“Tell me,” the Master wiggled his hips, he did love a good show.  Still, he would have preferred to have captured Rose or maybe Sarah Jane Smith.

“I told a story, that’s all,” she answered.  The Master sat while Martha continued her monologue.  “No weapons, just words.  I did just what the Doctor said.  I went across the continents all on my own.  And everywhere I went I found people and I told my story.”  She recalled she’d told them of the Doctor and the many times he’d saved the people of Earth.  “I told them about the Doctor and I told them to pass it on.  To spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor.”

“So he’s now more famous then Elvis?” The Master shrugged, he didn’t think his enemy had come up with such a lame plan.  Jamie would have been more fun, he had been a survivor of the Battle of Culloden.  The Doctor had also mentioned several alien companions.  Varric sounded like he’d have been enjoyable and Morrigan would have been an entertaining foil.  Instead, he faced Martha.  “Faith and hope?  Is that all?”

“No,” she replied and the Master hoped she’d come up with something more brilliant.  She continued.  “Because I them an instruction.”  She slowly stood.  “Just as the Doctor said.  I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at a specific time…”

“Nothing will happen!”  The Master stood.  Yes, he’d definitely have rather gone up against Morrigan.  “Is that your weapon?  Prayer?”

Martha was smiling.  “Right across the world,” she agreed.  “One word, just one thought, at one moment, but with 15 satellites.”

Wait?  What did 15 satellites have to do with anything?  The fact that he didn’t know worried the Master more than a bit.  “What?”

“The Archangel network,” Jack spoke of a system the Master had used to subliminally convince all of Great Britain to make him Prime Minister.

“A telepathic field,” Martha continued.  “Binding the whole human race together.  With all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time.  And that word is ‘Doctor’.

The Master looked at her with disdain, hiding the fact that he was worried that the plan she was spouting on about my actually be a problem.  The clock hit zero and the Doctor began to glow.  The cage around him began to disintegrate as the glowing grew brighter.  “Stop it.  No, no, no, no, you don’t.”  The ‘no’s were in rapid succession.

Jack looked at his flowing friend with affection and closed his eyes.  “Doctor.  Doctor.”

The Jones followed suit and began chanting the Doctor’s name as well.  On the Master’s view screen, he could see the pitiful masses following suit.  All of them were chanting the Doctor’s name.

“Stop this,” the Master demanded.  “Stop it now.”

Then even his Lucy closed her eyes.  “Doctor.  Doctor.”  Etu, Lucy.

The Doctor continued to glow as he de-aged, changing from the wizened creature to the handsome man he’d been upon his return to Earth.  “I’ve had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices.”

“I order you to stop!”  The Master screamed at him.

Around the planet Earth, the chanting continued.  All races, religions, creeds, and nationalities joined in calling out one name.  “Doctor.”  Even the Master’s wife and companion continued to unite with her people.

“The one thing you can’t do,” the Doctor’s voice grew more deep and firm.  “Is stop them thinking.”  He returned to his former self, young and virile.  All of those on the ship stared at him as he continued to glow and levitated into the air.  “Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this.”

Martha ran to her family as the Doctor’s restoration caused a wind to blow through the Master’s ship.  The guards made no move to stop her as they watched what was happening.

“No!”  The Master lifted his laser and fired at the Doctor.

His old friend and rival absorbed the blasts.  “I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry.”  The Master continued to fire his laser at his old friend and the continued to not just deflect them but take them into his body, as if he were ingesting them, not even flinching.

A paper blew into Jack’s fascinating face, attracting the Master’s attention.  He turned the laser towards the man.  “Then I’ll kill them.”

The Doctor just held out his hand and telekinetically knocked the laser away.  It moved slowly towards him.

The Master watched it.  “You can’t do this!  You can’t… it’s not fair!”

“And you know what happens now,” the Doctor warned.

“No!” the Master threw his hands onto his head, clutching at his hair.  He slowly backed up as the still floating Doctor approached him.  “No!  No!  No!”

“You wouldn’t listen,” the Doctor continued to pursue.

“No!”  The Master held out a hand before him.

“Because you know what I’m going to say,” the Doctor floated down the stairs.

“No!”  The Master was up against a wall.

The Doctor’s feet touched the floor, causing another strong gust of wind.  He slowly walked to where the Master huddled against the wall and put his arms around him, comfortingly.  “I forgive you.”

The Master’s eyes widened.  “My children!”

In the area between Earth and its moon, the Trocalafane turned and rushed back towards the Earth.  “Protect the paradox!  Protect the paradox!”

            “Captain, the paradox machine!”  The Doctor shouted. 

“You men with me!”

“You stay here!”  The Doctor ordered the Master, but the Master had grabbed a transporter.  “No!”  The Doctor shouted and they both disappeared.


	7. Master and Martha Move On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor defeats the Master and gets rid of Martha.

The Earth had been ravaged.  The Doctor could see that as he found himself in a field of missiles.

“Now it ends, Doctor,” the Master held out his arms as if to embrace the missiles.  “Now it ends!”  Alarms began blaring all around him.

 

On the Master’s ship, the Jones scrambled to stop the missile launch, as Jack led the guards to the TARDIS.

“We’ve got control of the Valiant.  You can’t launch,” Martha screamed into the communicator.

 

“We’ve got control of the Valiant.  You can’t launch,” the Doctor repeated Martha’s words.

“Oh, but I’ve got this,” the Master pushed back his sleeve to reveal a device strapped to his arm.  Black hole converter inside every ship.  If I can’t have this world, Doctor, then neither can you.  We shall stand upon this earth together as it burns.”

 

Jack threw open a pair of double doors.  There she was, the TARDIS.  A Trio of Trocalafane guarded it.

Outside, their comrades flew to protect the paradox machine set within the Gallifreyan time and space ship.  Inside, the Trocalafane took the bullets from the guards’ guns and remained floating, then knives popped out of their spheres.

“We can’t get in,” one of the guards ducked behind a door.  “We'll be slaughtered.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed.  “It happens to me a lot.”  He charged in, guns blazing.

On the observation deck, Lucy and the Jones family watched their potential hero and then turned to see thousands of Trocalafane swarming outside their window.

 

On the surface of the planet, the Doctor and Master talked.  “Weapon after weapon after weapon,” the Doctor advanced slowly on the Master.  “All you do is talk and talk and talk.  But overall these years and after all of these disasters, I’ve always had the greatest secret of them all.  I  know you.”  He looked to the missiles.  “Explode those ships and you kill yourself.  That’s the one thing you can never do.”  He held out his hand for the device the Master held.  “Give that to me.”  The Master handed the device over.

Yet on the ship, Jack had made it into the TARDIS.  He fired on the paradox machine.  The effect was so intense, that it caused the Earth to quake.

On the ground, the Doctor and Master struggled for the device.  Yet as the Master grabbed it, they both disappeared.

The Doctor found himself back on the ship.  “Everyone get down!  Time is reversing!”  He laughed merrily as the Earth was restored.  Everyone else just hung on to part of the ship.

When the years’ time had been erased, things stilled.  The Jones marveled that their memories were intact, while the rest of the human race went back to where they’d been right after the Master had killed the President of the United States, which was no big loss in comparison.

The Master tried to escape, only to be captured by Jack.  Despite the other’s objections, the Doctor took him into custody rather than executing him.  “It’s time to change,” the Doctor decided.  “Maybe I’ve been wondering for too long.  Now I have someone to care for.”

The loud bang interrupted the Doctor’s thoughts.  The Master staggered.  It was then that everyone realized that Lucy now held a gun.  Her eyes were sad as she lowered the weapon.  It was the Doctor, not the Master’s wife, who mourned for him as he died. 

“Will it stop, Doctor?” The Master wondered as he died, refusing to regenerate.  “The Drumming?  Will it stop?”  His eyes closed, as the Doctor continued to rock him.

 

 

After the Doctor had mourned the Master, sending his ashes into space, Martha rejoined the Doctor in the TARDIS.  He was deciding to meet Agatha Christie as Martha readied herself to tell him of her decision.

“I just can’t,” she announced.  “I’ve spent all these years training to be a doctor.  Now I have all these people to look after.”  She continued to go on about the trauma her family had experienced.

The Doctor tried to hide his relief.  He was down yet another companion, but who really needed them?  He had others waiting for him on a distant planet, but that could wait until he’d explored a bit more.


	8. Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neria returns from her latest Old God slaying trip, but makes an unfortunate decision.

“Those who refuse to fight against the oncoming Blights are druffalo droppings,” Neria declared.  “But those who abandon their friends to fight alone are worse than nug poo.”

            “They better have a good excuse for not helping us out,” Oghren tried to assure his Warden-Commander as they trekked through the desert.  They had emerged from the cave they had used to kill Razikale in the Western Approach.  Now they made their way to the Grey Warden fortress of Adamant.  They were about a day’s walk apart.

            “We had to deal with hordes of darkspawn and weeping angels!”  Neria had done so before, but this was the first time the Doctor had failed to come to her aid.

            “And we defeated them like the awesome Grey Wardens we are,” Daylen grinned at her.  It was the first smiled he’d given her since she’d left him and taken up with Nathaniel Howe.

            “That is one less Old God we have to deal with,” Nate moved to grab Neria, but hesitated.  It wasn’t that he had any hesitation because her ex was with them, Neria didn’t like displays of affection in front of those under her command.

            A man in a Grey Warden uniform charged out of the fortress on an Orlesian Courser.  He stopped and saluted them.  “Commander, what brings you to Adamant?”

            “We were just in the area, killing an Old God, and thought we’d stop by for supplies,” Neria announced.  “Is Commander Clarel nearby?”


	9. Saying Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Trevelyans lose one of their own. Evelyn leaves her family.

The Trevelyan family stood before the burning pyre, watching as Abigail Trevelyan’s remains were sent back to the Maker.

Evelyn listened to her father and brother, Brian, argue.  Catalina, the Grand Enchanter of the Ostwick Circle of Magi, was still evacuating the mages from the tower. She was to meet them in a preselected cave in the Vimmark Mountains.  Evie would join them after his sister’s funeral.

Ser Robert, the Knight Commander, had assured the mages that they were in no danger.  However, even he could not deny the reports coming out of all corners of southern Thedas.  The reports told tales of Templars attacking, razing, and ‘annulling’ towers.  Word had come that King Alistair of Ferelden had offered safe haven to the mages and those of Ostwick would head there soon. 

Brenna, Brian’s twin and fellow Templar, would return to the tower.  She’d already stated that she wouldn’t force Evie to return with her.  She knew why the mages were fleeing.

“I have a duty to the Templar Order,” Brian insisted, raising his voice. 

“You have a duty to your family,” their father countered.  “Maker knows that I am a devout Andrastian, but the Templars are splitting from the Chantry and going their own way.  I can see it and so can you.  I’ll write to the Divine myself about this situation and have you excused from your duties.”

“Do what you feel you must, but until the Divine tells me to return home, I will not shirk my duties,” Brian was adamant.  “In this chaos, I can do more good by staying at my post.”

“Your sister is about to marry a teyrn, so she isn’t able to run the bann when I die,” Bann Trevelyan’s voice became pleading.  “Your younger siblings were either trained as clerics or turned out to be a mage.  I can’t leave them in charge.”

“Sure you can,” Brian assured him.  “They are all competent and have as much training to be a bann as I do.”

Evelyn just continued to stare into the flames.

 

 

Less than a week after her oldest sister’s death, Evelyn Trevelyan found herself in a cave with less than a dozen mages.  The others had been sent ahead.  “We’re going to Redcliffe?”

“I am,” Catalina clarified.  “I need you to go elsewhere in Ferelden, however.  The Divine has called a conclave.  She wants to put an end to this war with the Templars and has summoned the Grand Enchanters and Knight Commanders, as well as the rest of the heads of the Templar order.  She’s requested that we bring our people with us, but I don’t trust this.  It could be a trap set by the Chantry.  I want you to go to Haven, to the Temple of Andraste, in my stead; as my representative.”

“You want me to walk into the trap for you?”  Evelyn wondered why she was the chosen sacrifice to the chantry’s possible snare.

“You are my most talented mage,” Catalina pointed out.  “If it is a trap, I know you will be able to make it out of there alive.  If it isn’t, I can trust you to speak for me and to see to the best interest of the Ostwick mages.”

Evelyn nodded.  “I’ll go.”

“Good, take Anthony and Stephen with you as guards,” Catalina instructed.  “They have excellent combative magic and will protect you.”

“Do you think we’ll get to see the Champion of Kirkwall there?” Stephen was excited.

“I doubt it,” Anthony shook his head.  “I’ve heard she’s disappeared.”

 

Just two days before she left for Haven, she received a letter from Brian.  She’d written to her brother, in secret, and told him where she was going.  His letter revealed that Ser Robert had decided to send him as a representative to the Conclave as well.  He would be a few days behind her, but would make sure he found her when he arrived.  He looked forward to their reunion.

Both siblings hoped this conclave would bring an end to the hostilities.


	10. The Friend of My Enemy is My Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neria realizing something is wrong with the Orlesian Wardens

“I don’t know, boss, I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Oghren grumbled.

            “So do I,” Neria admitted.  They’d been in Adamant for a week and something was definitely wrong.  When Neria had met the local Warden Commander, Clarel, the other woman had been friendly enough.  She’d been delighted that Neria’s group had managed to take down an Old God and asked her all sorts of questions.  She vowed that she would take care of the last two.  Next to her had been a man with Tevene features and accent.  Why a Tevinter Magister was in Orlais, Neria didn’t know.  The man hadn’t said anything to her; rather he had stared at her as if he were trying to solve a puzzle.

            When she’d left the Commander’s office, she’d heard one of the Orlesian Wardens humming a strange tune.  Just two days later, Nate had begun humming the same melody.  Then Sigrun and one of her other men had followed suit.  It was a week later, when Oghren began to express his unease.

            “Does it have to do with the strange tune everyone is humming?” She had a theory about what it meant, but that theory was too scary to even contemplate.

            “Yes and no,” Oghren hedged.  “It’s the Calling; we’ve all begun to hear it.  _All of us_.”

            “I believe you’re right,” she admitted.

            “That’s not all, though,” he continued.  “Something else is off.  Most of the Wardens we brought with us from Ferelden seem to have begun taking orders from Clarel.   She’s up to something.  Nate and Sigrun are looking into it.”

            “Have you also noticed how many Wardens are here?”  Neria looked around.  “I mentioned to Clarel that I had been under the impression that Adamant only had a minimal, skeleton, force assigned to it.  This looks like the bulk of Orlais’ forces.”

            “There are more Wardens here than in all of Ferelden,” Daylen agreed, joining them.  “I mean there were more already… before we joined them.  Neria… I think some of the mages around here have been using blood magic.  They have the cuts on their hands and arms and that pale look.  I lived in Kirkwall for a while, I know what a blood mage looks like.  I also just saw half a dozen Warden Mages leave with a cloaked man.  I don’t know what they’re up to, but he gave me the willies and they had a strange look in their eyes.  It is what I’ve always imagined someone following the Calling into the Deep Roads would look like.”

            “Sigrun and Nate are on it,” Oghren informed him.  “There is definitely something off.”

            “Wardens!”  Clarel stood on a nearby buttress and was using magic to amplify her voice.  Sigrun stood beside her, her arm in Clarel’s vice-like grip.  “It seems that some of you are not in tune with our vision.  We have all heard the Calling; even those who have just joined us from Ferelden can hear the music that compels us all.  We must stop the Blights for good, unless we are not there to stop it.  This means was must use any means necessary, including blood magic.  It is the Chantry who tells us that such things are wrong, but the Grey Wardens are beyond Chantry control.  We will not yield to their superstitions.” 

            The Orlesian Wardens cheered.

            Neria stepped forward.  “Clarel, what you are proposing is wrong.  I have fought several Old Gods, through hordes of darkspawn and other creatures.  Blood Magic is not the answer, nor is allying yourself with Tevinter.  That is what you have done, why that man, Erimond, is here.  I will not be part of this and neither will my Wardens.”  She turned to leave.

            “We can’t let her leave,” Erimond stepped up beside Clarel.  “She’ll go to Celine and she’ll send her soldiers to stop us.  There are still Old Gods that need killing.  We have to stop the Blight before you all succumb to the Calling.”

            “If you’re afraid of losing _all_ of the Grey Wardens, then go to King Alistair and ask him to record the secrets of the Joining,” Neria countered.  “You are using Blood Magic, Clarel.  Where are you getting the blood?  Is it your own or are you sacrificing your own Wardens.”  Clarel’s expression told her all she needed to know.  “The Ferelden Wardens are returning to Amaranthine.”

            “No!”  Clarel insisted.  “Stop them Wardens!  We’ll make them see reason later.”

            Nate and Sigrun struggled to break from Clarel’s hold but were quickly subdued by the lieutenants around her.  Daylen turned on the Wardens, blasting them with waves of water.  The water evaporated, though, a moment before it hit the faces of three fire users.  He soon found himself encased in an electric cage.  Beside him, Oghren had felled three Orlesian Wardens before being knocked out with the side of a very large axe.  “Run!”  He yelled to Neria.

            She had already gathered a large storm, the sun was blocked out near her and lightning bolts were shooting at any wardens who came to near.  She dodged a fireball as she raced up a set of stairs that led out of the courtyard.  She continued to blast lightning at the Wardens racing towards her.  Then she decided to change things up a bit and hit the next set of Wardens with cold blasts, they were getting soaked by the storm she’d summoned and it seemed to be gathering into clouds that were already there.  A full storm burst upon Adamant Fortress, as if the Maker himself were finally taking a hand in the events of Thedas.  Wardens slipped on wet stones and couldn’t tell lightning from the storm from those bolts that were intentionally protecting Neria. 

            The Warden Commander of Ferelden slipped out of the Fortress and ran to a nearby stable.  She grabbed the closest mount and pointed it east, towards Ferelden.


	11. Adorable Adipose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Donna meet again.

**Earth**

 

            Adipose had covered up the deaths of several clients.  More troubling had been the possibility that they were using the planet Earth to seed a nursery program.  The Doctor was determined to stop them.  He had been alone since Martha left.  He’d had temporary companions, but they had either been around for a single day or been around for just a day and died.

            He supposed he should return to Thedas soon.  He had a few companions there who were working on matters for him.  They had been dropped off thousands of years in the past and were investigating an ancient temple.  He was hoping they would find the secrets to defeating a powerful being who had once been worshipped as a god and who planned to bring destruction on their civilization.  They’d be fine until his return, though.

            The truth was that the Doctor didn’t want to explain to one of them why one of her good friends was now stuck in an alternate dimension.  Elissa was not known for her forgiveness.

            Now, though, he was suspended several feet in the air by a window washer’s platform.  An Adipose employee, who had been helping him, was tied to a chair in the room before him.  In front of her was Adipose Chief Operations Officer, Miss Foster.  She was holding one of the pills her company sold as a weight loss pill and was explaining her evil plan.

            “This is the spark of life,” she announced.

            “And what’s that supposed to mean?”  The Doctor’s accomplice demanded to know.

            “Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away,” Foster explained.  “Well, it certainly attracts them, that part’s true.  But it binds the fat together and galvanizes it to form a body.”

            The woman tied to the chair became rather confused.  “What do you mean a body?”

            Foster looked at her prisoner as if she were an idiot.  “I’m surprised you never asked about my name.  I chose it well.  Foster.  As in ‘foster mother’.  And these,” she opened a drawer and drew out the cutest little creature to ever be formed from fat.  “Are my children.”

            “Are you kidding me?” Penny didn’t notice the top of a head that suddenly appeared in the nearby door’s peep window.  “I don’t…  What the hell is that?”

            “Adipose,” Foster didn’t notice the top of the head either, nor did she notice that the Doctor was now peering in.  “It’s called an Adipose, made out of living fat.”

            The Doctor watched Penny struggle, as the implications of what Foster had done came to him.  “I don’t understand,” Penny strained against the ropes.

            “From ordinary humans,” Foster continued.

            By this point, the top of the head in the window became a full one that of a red-haired woman with a slightly disbelieving, slightly annoyed, look on her face.  While neither Penny nor Miss Foster noticed her, the Doctor did.  It was Donna Noble!

            Donna noticed the Doctor at about the same time.  Both of their eyes widened at the surprise.  Then Donna’s mouth drop as the Doctor moved back a little and his own mouth formed an O.

            “Donna?” He mouthed.

            Donna smiled and mouthed “Shut up!”  Followed by, “Oh, My God!”

            The Doctor shook his head.  “How?” He formed.

            Donna pointed to herself.  “It’s me!”  The silent conversation continued.

            “I can see that,” the Doctor pointed at his eyes and then her.

            Donna gave a thumbs up.  “This is brilliant!”  Her grin came back.

            “What the hell are you doing there?” the Doctor pointed at her, his words still hushed.

            “I was looking for you!”  She pointed at her own eyes and then him.

            The Doctor pointed to himself.  He thought she hadn’t wanted to go adventuring with him.  That is what she’d said after her botched marriage to a man who secretly worked for an evil arachnid.  “What for?”

            She pretended to open and book and read.  Then she made a clawing and climbing motion with her hands.  Next she motioned her hands by her face and went down.  She had saved him from drowning.  He supposed that could be what she was talking about.  Then she moved her fingers as if they were walking.  After that she pointed her thumb away, scooched down, and came back up.  “Then I saw you!”  She stuck her tongue and thumb out.

            That is when they noticed Miss Foster watching them.  “Are we interrupting you?” She asked them.

            The Doctor looked to Donna.  “Run!”  He mouthed.

            “Get her,” Foster pointed to the door Donna had been on the other side of.

            The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to lock that door.

            “And him,” Foster now pointed at the Doctor.

            He raised his hand and used the sonic screwdriver to raise the lift.

            The two partners in crime both raced to the roof of the building as their pursuers used their AR-15s to shoot out the door.

            The Doctor ran across the rooftop to the staircase that Donna now ran up.  The pair met in the middle. 

            “Oh, my God!”  Donna embraced him.  “I don’t believe it!  You’ve even got the same suit!  Don’t you ever change?”

            “Yeah, thanks, Donna, not right now,” he looked down to see the armed men and alien woman who still gave chase.  “Just like old times.”  He grabbed the companion who’d been looking for him for a year.  New adventures were in their future as soon as they took care of their new trouble.

 

 

            After a merry chase, the Doctor let the Matron think she had captured him.  He had wanted to warn her of the danger she didn’t see in front of her face.  He then easily escaped by stealing her sonic pen and putting it up against his sonic screwdriver, tip to tip.  The resulting high vibration and squeal let him escape with Donna.

            The pair worked together to disable Adipose’ computer core, keeping the Matron from killing any more people with her Inducer.  She had tried to step up her plans, which would have killed a million humans.

            “You look older,” Donna commented as they worked.

            “Thanks,” the Doctor muttered as he fiddled with the computer.

            “Still on your own?” She hoped not.

            “Yep.  Well, no,” he amended.  “I had this friend.  Martha she was called.  Martha Jones, she was brilliant.  And I destroyed half her life.”  He continued to weld cables.  “But she’s fine, she’s good.  She’s gone.”

            Donna looked down for a moment and then back up.  “What about Rose?”

            The Doctor looked at her, wondering how she could so easily see what mattered even more to him.  “Still lost.”  She nodded until his head snapped to her again.  “I thought you were going to travel the world.”

            She gave a little snort.  “Easier said than done.  It’s like I had that one day with you, and I was going to change.  I was going to do so much.  Then I woke up the next morning… same old life.  It’s like you were never there.  And I tried… I did try.  I went to Egypt.  I was going to go barefoot and everything.  And then it’s all bus trips and guidebooks and ‘don’t drink the water’ and two weeks later you’re back home.  It’s nothing like being with you.  I must have been made turning down that offer.”

            “What offer?”  He used his screwdriver to weld two copper cables together.

            “To come with you,” she cocked her head.  Could he have forgotten?

            He stopped and fully looked at her.  “Come with me?”

            A bright smile lit her face.  “Oh, yes, please!”

            He stammered a moment.  “Right.”

            The computer interrupted them.  “Inducer activated.”

            Donna didn’t like the sound of that.  “What is she doing now?”

            “She’s started the program,” the Doctor realized.  He scrambled to stop the computer as it sent signals to all those who’d taken the Adipose pill.  “So far they’re just losing weight, but the Matron’s gone up to emergency parthenogenesis.”

            “And that’s when they convert…” Donna began.

            “Skeletons, organs, everything,” the Doctor finished for her.  “A million people are going to die.”  He tied the capsule he’d stolen to the computer only to have Matron increase the strength.  He continued to bemoan the people who would be lost while Donna calmly demanded he tell her what he needed.  Finally, he screamed to her.  “I need a second capsule, but I only had the one!”

            Calm as could be, Donna pulled out a second capsule.  Together they laughed as he took the device out of her hand.  It did the trick and the computer shut down.

            Then another hum began.  “It’s the nursery,” the Doctor deduced.

            Donna looked up.  “When you say nursery, you don’t mean a crèche in Knotting Hill, do you?”

            “Nursery ship,” the Doctor agreed.

            The computer came on and an alien voice began to speak.  The Doctor listened closely.

            “Hadn’t we better go and stop them?” Donna suggested.  “There’s a bloomin’ spaceship over London.”

            “Hold on, hold on,” the Doctor held up a finger.  “It’s instructions from Adipose’ First Family.

            “Don’t tell me to hold on, Martian Boy,” Donna grumbled.

            “We’re not the ones in trouble now,” the Doctor continued.  “She is!”  He grabbed Donna’s hand and ran back to the rooftop.

            When they arrived, the Adipose were caught in a tractor beam, rising to the surface.

            Donna looked at the cute little blobs of human fat.  “What are you going to do then?  Blow them up?”

            The Doctor looked at her, perplexed.  “They’re just children.  They can’t help where they came from.”

            That wasn’t what he’d thought about the arachnid babies.  “Oh, well that makes a change from last time.  That Martha must have done you good.”

            He touched the tip of his tongue to his teeth. “Yeah.  She did.  Yeah, yeah, she did.”  He sniffed.  “She fancied me.”

            Donna knew it was Rose he still fancied.  She had no clue why other women kept falling for alien bad boys.  “Mad Martha, that one; Blind Martha, Charity Martha.”

            An Adipose squealed happily and waved at them.  Then he looked up as he continued on his journey.

            Donna found herself waving back.  “I’m waving at fat.”

            “Actually, as a diet plan, it sort of works,” the Doctor pointed out.  “There she is!”  He spied the Matron rising up with the young Adipose.  She looked serene, unaware of the danger she was in.  “Matron Cofelia, listen to me!”

            The Matron looked at him.  “No, I don’t think so, Doctor.  And if I never see you again, it will be too soon.”

            The doctor threw out a hand to her.  “Why does no one ever listen to me?  I’m trying to help!  Just get across to the roof!  Can you shift the levitation beam?”

            “What?” the Matron looked up as she continued to slowly rise.  “So you can arrest me?”

            “Are all aliens this daft?” Donna wondered.

            “Just listen,” the Doctor insisted.  Í saw the Adipose instructions.  They know breeding on Earth is a crime.  So what’s the one thing they want to get rid of?”

            “Their accomplice,” Donna supplied.

            “I’m far more than that,” the Matron insisted.  “I’m nanny to all these children.”

            “Exactly,” the Doctor pointed out.  “Mum and Dad have got the kids now.  They don’t need the nanny anymore.”

            As if to emphasize his point, the beam shut off; with the Matron hovering hundreds of feet in the air.  She looked down and then at the Doctor, realizing he was right.  Then she just screamed as she plummeted to the pavement below.

            Donna turned her face into the Doctor’s chest so she wouldn’t have to see the splat.  She heard it, though.  Looking up, she saw the Adipose waving goodbye as their ship zoomed away.

 

 

            When they reached the street, they encountered Penny, still tied to a chair as she walked away.  She screamed at them that they were mad as Donna bemoaned the girl’s inability to handle adventure.  Then she grabbed the Doctor’s hand and pulled him along.  “Come now!  TARDIS!”  He took the lead, taking her to the ship only for her to stop, shocked as she realized it was parked only feet from her car.  “That is like destiny.  And I’m ready for this!  I packed ages ago, just in case!”  Indeed the car’s boot was full of suitcases.  She started piling them into the Doctor’s arms.

            He had to admit that he was impressed with the storage capacity of the car.  The next piece surprised him.  “You have a… a hatbox.”

            “I’m ready!”  She declared as she closed the boot.  She ran to the TARDIS door, prattling on about being ready for any kind of travel.  She stopped as she noticed he was just staring at her.  “You’re not saying much.”

            “No…”  He still held the suitcases.  “It’s just… It’s a funny old life, in the TARDIS.”

            “You don’t want me?”  Her heart cracked a bit.

            “I’m not saying that,” he shook his head.  He didn’t want to hurt her the way he had Martha.

            “But you asked me,” she still kicked herself for saying no before.  “Would you rather be on your own?”

            “No,” of that he was sure of now.  “Actually, no, but…” He set down the suitcases, not realizing that it was now raining.  “The last time, with Martha I said, it… it got complicated.  And that was all my fault.  I...”  He took in a deep breath.  “I just want a mate.”

            Donna cocked her head.  “You just want to mate.”  Her head cocked sharply from side to side to emphasize her words.

            “I just want _a_ mate,” he didn’t know what he’d done to cause Martha to fall for him and didn’t want to make the same mistake again.  He was slowly realizing that Donna was _not_ Martha.

            “You’re not mating with me, Sunshine!”  She took another step into the TARDIS.

            “ _A_ mate!  I want _a_ mate,” he didn’t want to mate with her.  The only woman he presently wanted to mate with was trapped in another reality.

            “Well,” Donna said through grit teeth.  “Just as well, because I’m not having any of that nonsense.  I mean, you’re just along streak of nothing,” she held out her hands to indicate how skinny he was.  “You know, alien nothing. “

            The Doctor nodded.  There we are, then.  Okay.

            Donna nodded and then smiled.  “I can come?”

            The Doctor nodded in response.  “Yeah.  Of course, you can, yeah.”  They smiled at each other.  “I’d love it.”

            They moved to hug and then Donna stopped.  “Car keys!”

            “What?”  Now the Doctor was confused again.

            “I still have me mum’s car keys!”  She ran off as the Doctor began loading her luggage.

 

 

            Donna had her phone to her ear.  “I know, mum, I saw it.  Little fat people.  Listen, I’ve got to go.  I’m going to stay with Veena for a bit.”  She paused, listening.  “I know, space ship.  But, I’ve still got the car keys.”  She scanned her surroundings.  “Look, there’s a bin on Brook Street about 30 feet from the corner.  I’m going to leave them in there.”  She placed the keys as she listened.  “Yes, a bin.  Now stop complaining, the car’s just down the road a bit.  I’ve got to go, I really got to go.  Bye.”  She ran to a nearby blonde who was watching a police scene.  “Listen, there’s a woman who's about to come along; a tall, blonde woman called Sylvia.  Tell her, ‘that bin there.  All right?  It will make sense.”

            “All right,” the woman agreed and watched her run back towards the Doctor and the TARDIS.  Then she, Rose Tyler, slowly walked from the scene.  No one say her slowly fade back into another reality.

 

            Donna ran into the TARDIS.  “Off we go then.”


	12. Fixed Points of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Temple of Sacred Ashes is destroyed.

**Thedas-Haven-The Temple of Andraste**

Evelyn Trevelyan had been in Haven for a few days and expected Brian to join her soon.  She was looking forward to it.  So far, the Conclave had been incredibly dull.  She’d sat through two meetings, glaring at the Templar representatives, while the Divine droned on about the importance of peace and cooperation.  It hadn’t been the mages who attacked at the White Spire.  That had been mentioned at the last meeting.  The groups were meeting in a large room, with the mages at one long table and the Templars at the other, facing each other.  The Divine sat at a desk set in between the two.  She continuously droned on about the need for peace and cooperation.  She needed better speech writers.  The mage who sat beside Evelyn spent his time drawing, as he listened.  The one on the other side wrote out potion ideas.

She still wondered how the Templars could act self-righteous after what had happened, as she walked through the temple.  She had seen the reverend mother her sister, Charlotte, had been assigned as a cleric to.  She supposed that meant Charlotte was around, somewhere.  She had also received a message that Brian would arrive that very morning, which meant he should be in the temple somewhere.  She just needed to find him.  Before she could do that, however, she needed to address another matter.

Just that morning, she’d received a letter from Brenna.  According to her older sister, a call had gone out to the Templars from Lord Seeker Lucius to gather at Therinfal Redoubt.  Lucius was supposed to be at the Conclave but had apparently sent a representative instead.  It was the call, in the midst of peace talks, that worried her and she was determined to make the Divine aware of what was happening under her nose. 

As she approached the Divine’s rooms, she heard voices.  The woman was in meetings and Evelyn doubted she would appreciate being interrupted by a mage who was just there as a representative to a Grand Enchanter.  Then again, the only reason she had the information was her close ties to a couple of Templars.  After considering for several moments, she decided to find Brian and have him come with her.

Evelyn Trevelyan turned to find her older brother when she heard the Divine call out.  “Help me!  Somebody help me!”

Turning yet again, she ran into the Divine’s rooms.  The sight before her was something she could not have imagined.  “What’s going on here?”

“Get help, run!”  The Divine urged, it was too late, though.  They were in a fixed point in time.

 

 

The Temple of Andraste exploded.  In its wake, a large fissure of green light formed in the sky, smaller rifts echoed in the air throughout Thedas.

 

 

Evelyn Trevelyan found herself in a strange land where nothing made sense and everything seemed to have a green tint around it.  As she slowly managed to stand up, she noticed large spiders coming after her.

“Come on!”  A woman was holding out a hand to her.  She seemed familiar, but there was a glow about her that made her hard to identify.  She was definitely better than the giant spiders, though.  Evie grabbed the hand and ran. 

They made their way up an embankment to where a large tear seemed to have formed.  They could see the ruins of a building on the other side.

“Hurry!”  The woman urged.  “Faster!”

The pair continued to run until Evie had made it to the tear.  “Come on,” she motioned for the other woman to go through first.

“No,” the woman began to fight off the spiders.  “You’re the one who’s important.  You must live.”  She turned and pushed Evie out of the Fade and back into the World of Thedas before the spiders took her.

Evelyn tried to reach for her, but she could only lift a hand before she lost consciousness again.

 

Michael was the first soldier to see the two women at the edge of the Breach.  “Brigham!”  He called to his friend.

The other soldier ran towards him as one of the women stepped out.  She landed hard on the ground.  She managed to pull herself up to her hands and knees, only to collapse again.  “Was that…”  Brigham pointed towards the Breach.

“It was Andraste!”  Loreena, a third soldier, declared.  “She sent someone to help.  Let’s get her two Haven.”

“She was the cause of the Breach, obviously,” a fourth soldier, Ritchie, declared.

“We just saw Andraste!”  Yet another soldier, Candice, argued.

“She obviously needs help,” Michael scooped her up.  “Let’s get her to Addon.”


	13. Divine Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eamon is about to marry his mistress or so he thinks.

**Denerim**

A man should be happy on his wedding day.  He was making a lifetime commitment to the woman he loved.  Eamon told himself this as he waited beside the Reverend Mother of Denerim, waiting for Ylainie to walk to him.  She had been beaming for the last week as she anticipated this day.  She would greet him with a smacking kiss and a bright smile.  She would talk about family; she had shown no interest in children while they courted.  Yet now she wanted a family.  She was young enough for it, less than half his age with plenty of energy.  She was also beautiful and clever. There was one major problem, though, one he didn’t like to admit to himself. 

He had already made a lifetime commitment to the woman he loved twenty years before and they’d both made mistakes.  Yet as he forced himself to be honest now, _she_ was the woman he loved and probably always would be.  It was too late, though.  Through his own angry actions, their marriage had been annulled and she had been forced to marry another.  He had to take his happiness where he still could.

“You know, this wedding took two years for you two to plan and I think I liked mine better,” King Alistair murmured from beside him, looking around at the hall.  It was decorated in red and yellow.

“I’ll let you plan your next wedding then,” Eamon snorted.  What did he care about the decorations?  Ylainie sure did, though.

“I am happily married, thank you very much,” Alistair countered.  “I would also thank you to stop trying to secure a political match for me with a new woman.”  He hadn’t been able to get rid of the Nevarran princess yet.  She’d insisted on staying for Eamon’s wedding.  It seemed she and the bride had become fast friends.  Considering Elissa’s feelings about Ylainie, that didn’t speak well of the princess.

“Your wife has been missing for over a year,” Eamon pointed out.  “You haven’t heard any word from her.  It’s time to admit she’s dead and move on.”

“Maybe you should admit that you don’t want to move on,” Alistair shot back.  “Maker knows I’m not Isolde’s biggest fan, but you still love her.”

“She’s with Teagan now,” Eamon’s voice was firm.

“She doesn’t sleep in the same wing of the castle with him,” Alistair countered.  At Eamon’s surprised look, Alistair shrugged.  He didn’t tell him that Elissa’s spy network was now giving him reports in the queen’s absence.  “I have my way of finding these things out.  He gave three women Dragon Pox; you can see the ravages from the disease on him.  Two of the women died.  She isn’t going near that, besides she feels that she is doing penance for a moment of weakness and still loves you, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

“She still…”  Eamon stopped talking as a full band began to play and Ylainie walked to him on the arm of her father.  He could hear some of the guests, his side, murmuring about him marrying another Orlesian.  She did look beautiful.  Her dark blonde hair was piled onto her head in intricate braids and she wore an extravagant blue and gold dress, Orlais’ colors.  Around her neck was a gold plated necklace that was almost an identical one to one he’d seen Empress Celene wear once before.

“Dearly beloved we are gathered here to unite these two people before the Maker,” the Reverend Mother began.

“I could get you out of here if you want me to,” Alistair whispered in Eamon’s ear.

Ylainie glared at the king as Eamon smiled reassuringly at him.

“What if the Maker sent a sign to you?”  Alistair wasn’t sure why he wanted to stop the wedding so badly, except Elissa had once made a comment that if Eamon’s personal spy turned lover was able to convince him to marry her, they had to stop the wedding for the sake of Ferelden.  Elissa didn’t even like Eamon or Isolde, although she’d warmed up a bit to Isolde when things with south between her and Eamon.  He had to try for her.

“The Maker isn’t going to…” Eamon stopped as he noticed the Reverend Mother and his Bride glaring at him.  “Continue.”

“Before I ask you to make a promise to each other, I must ask if anyone has any just reason as to why these two should not wed,” the Reverend Mother declared.  The crowd frowned.  That was new.  They had never heard the question asked before, but he was marrying an Orlesian.

The answer did not come from within the palace, but without.  There was a loud crackle and then a bang. Half of the wedding guests shot from their seat to look out of the windows.

Gertrude, one of the heads of the Queens Spies who posed as her Mistress of Wardrobe, ran in.  “Your Majesty, you must see this.  Also, you need to mobilize the soldiers.  There are demons coming out of that thing.”

“What thing?” Alistair had no chance of getting to the windows.

She grabbed his arm.  “Come with me,” she led him away.

Ylainie turned to the Reverend Mother.  “Please continue.” 

The Reverend Mother wasn’t paying attention to her, though.  She was forcing her way through the crowd to one of the windows.  “Maker preserve us,” she breathed.

Eamon wondered momentarily if he should take this as a Sign from the Maker.  Then he heard a familiar voice at the far end of the hall, a voice that maintained a trace of its Orlesian accent no matter how long its owner had been in Ferelden. 

“Am I interrupting something?”  Isolde stood in the doorway, holding the hand of Rowan, their two-year-old daughter.

“Isolde?”  Without realizing what he was doing, he found himself walking towards her.  “What are you doing here?”

“Redcliffe is overrun by mages and Templars,” she responded.  “It isn’t a safe place for either of our children, but I couldn’t convince Connor to leave.  He is one of the Rebel Mages now.  I came to talk to their father.  What is going on here?”

He just shook his head and embraced her and Rowan.  His beautiful Isolde was sweaty and disheveled.  He didn’t remember ever seeing her so and it made him want to take care of her.  To help her clean up and ensure she was safe from the conflict she had fled.  His heart yearned for him to take care of her and their daughter.  “I hoped the rumors about Redcliffe weren’t true.  Tell me everything.”

“I knew that if I made it to you, we’d be safe,” she smiled softly at him, hope and devotion in her eyes.  He found he wanted to be worthy of that devotion.  “Come with me.”  He put a hand on the small of her back and then took Rowan's hand, leading them away.

Ylainie was left standing in the hall, in her wedding dress, her wedding ruined by a war and a breach in the sky.


	14. Seeking Haven in Haven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adan protects his patient from crazed villagers

**Haven**

Adan recorded in his journal as he studied his patient, worried.  She had a fever and chills.  He had no doubt that the mark on her hand was killing her.  Why?  What was it?  His primary concern, however, was keeping her alive.  Even now, she lay on a bed beside him under a thin blanket.  She tossed and turned.

“Is there anything I can do?” Minaeve glanced worriedly at the patient.

“I don’t think so,” Adan shook his head.  “Not unless you can…”

His door burst open.  “She’s in here!”  Felsi, the local tavern keeper was holding a torch and a rope.  “She’s going to pay for what she did!”

The sweet, studious Minaeve jumped up and pushed Felsi out the door.  She turned to Addon, frowning as the patient moaned.  “I’m going to go get Seeker Pentaghast, bolt the door behind me.”

“It was just Flissa,” Adan insisted.

Minaeve peered out the door.  “No it isn’t, she brought at least two dozen friends.  Bolt the door, some of them have found pitchforks.”  She ran out.

Adan bolted the door.  It was less than ten minutes before he heard people trying to physically force their way in.  He put a cold compress on the brow of his patient, moving her blonde curls out of the way.  Her eyes fluttered, revealing orbs as green as the mark on her hand.  Then they closed again.

It was twenty minutes of people trying to break in before rescue came.  “What is going on here?”  It was Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast’s voice that was coming through the door.

“She killed the Most Holy!”  That voice belonged to the head requisition officer.  Adan didn’t remember her name.  He just knew she had once worked for Teyrn Loghain MacTir and still sang the man’s praises.  He was surprised she’d managed to survive living in Denerim with that attitude; Ferelden’s queen had very hostile feelings towards the dead teyrn and was not known for her forgiving nature.

“She must pay for what she did!”  That was Seggrit, the merchant who overcharged on everything.

“We don’t know that,” Cassandra’s voice replied.  “Anyone who wants through this door must go through me first.”

That should keep the rabble away.  Adan turned back to his patient.  He knew that Seeker Pentaghast scared him.

 

Cassandra Pentaghast had her own anger towards the prisoner, there was no reason to believe she hadn’t killed the Divine and caused the explosion that had killed hundreds of others.  She’d had friends among those others.  Still, the woman deserved a trial, not a lynch mob.  Besides, Leliana kept insisting the prisoner was innocent.  She didn’t know how Leliana would know, but her friend’s doubt bolstered her own determination to protect the woman in her charge.

“Why are you defending the woman who slew the Divine?” Seggrit sneered at her.  He held a rope and dagger, but wouldn’t come near Cassandra.  Flissa was back and glaring at the seeker.

“ _If_ the prisoner killed the Divine and the others at the Conclave, then she’ll be punished,” Cassandra promised.  “First she will have a trial, though.  We are not barbarians or Chasind Folk.”

“I saw her step from the Breach,” the soldier called Loreena stepped forward.  “Andraste was with her.  The Maker has sent her in our timed of need.  She glared back at the mob.  “You will kill the woman sent to be our savior.”  She took her place by Cassandra.

“What’s going on here?”  A lovely woman with blonde hair that cascaded straight down her back and who wore a Templar’s uniform stepped forward.  Her hand was on the hilt of her sword.

Chancellor Rodrick, who stood beside Flissa, spoke.  “This Seeker, this glorified thug, is trying to keep us from seizing the prisoner and delivering the Maker’s justice.”

“I haven’t seen this prisoner,” she stepped up to stand with Cassandra.  “But I refuse to let you take a woman whose only known crime is to survive the explosion of the Temple of Sacred Ashes.  I was lucky enough to be far enough from the blast to survive.  However, my younger sisters were in that temple, both of my younger sisters, and I’m sure they’re dead.  I had a brother in there as well, my twin brother; I have no reason to believe he somehow survived.  My twin brother and youngest sisters are dead, less than a year after I cried over my older sister’s funeral pyre.  I am grieving as much as any of you.  I’ve suffered just as much loss.  Believe me, though, when I say you’ll have to come through me to get to her as well.”  She looked at Cassandra.  “We’ll take shifts protecting this door if need be.”

“Thank you, Ser…”  Cassandra didn’t know this Templar.

“Brenna, my lady,” she introduced herself.  “Sir Brenna Trevelyan of the Ostwick Circle.”

 

Cassandra was back on duty, watching Adan’s door, to protect his patient, the next day when two soldiers came to her.  Between them was a bald elf with a mage’s staff.

“Seeker, we captured this Apostate,” one of the soldiers reported.

“I came to help,” the elf gave both soldiers a condescending look.  “There is a huge breach in the sky that is spitting out demons from the Fade.  I spent my life studying the Fade.”

“So you claim,” the other guard glared at him.

“Are you also a healer?”  Adan was afraid they were going to lose the prisoner she was even now guarding before they could question her.  He appreciated the help but mistrusted the newcomer.  He knew nothing of the bald elf and didn’t see how he could make matters better.  He would let him try, though, before she got worse.

“I’m competent at it,” the elf nodded.  “Especially if the injury is related to that tear in our sky.”

“Then come with me,” she led him into the hut and to where the prisoner was moaning in pain and delirious from fever.  The Mark on her hand seemed to be expanding and Addon was sure it was killing her.


	15. A Change of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neria is still being chased by Grey Wardens

**The Storm Coast**

Neria Surana was still being chased.  She looked out at the Waking Sea from her perch among the many cliffs in the area.  There were tears in the sky and she’d fought demons as she fled back to her homeland, yet the Grey Wardens of Orlais had followed her to her home country of Ferelden.  She watched the waves crash as she contemplated her next move.

She had planned to return to Amaranthine, but she was now positive that there would be Orlesian Wardens between her and Vigil’s Keep.  She wondered, idly, if King Alistair were aware of the Orlesian presence in Ferelden.  It was unlikely with everything happening in Redcliffe and the Hinterlands.

Amaranthine wasn’t her only option.  She’d been born in the Alienage, but the city elves there would be of no help.  Plus, she had friends closer than that.  She glanced to the east.  There was a man she hadn’t seen in a couple of years who would likely shelter her.  They hadn’t parted on the best of terms, but she would always trust him. 

She stood and patted the horse she’d stolen from Adamant Fortress.  She’d named him Shartan after the elf who had allied with Andraste to free his people.  He would be her ally to escape from those who had gone mad and would hopefully help her find a way to help her own people.  Mounting him, she turned him towards Highever.


	16. The Daisy of Kirkwall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirkwall's true crime lord loses prey.

**Kirkwall**

“What do you mean Neria Surana was in town?”  The crime lord, or rather lady, known as Daisy glowered at two of her minions.

“She is a friend of Lady Hawke’s,” one of the minions pointed out.  “Do you not want her alive?”

“No!”  She slammed her hands down on the desk she sat behind.

“Watch that temper,” Cammen, her second in command soothed.  “I’m sure she’ll be back.  But wouldn’t it be better to capture her?  While her death would serve our cause, she may be a key to finding the Doctor.  Remember that Elanna is still his prisoner and we must rescue her.  As soon as the Grey Warden steps foot in Kirkwall again, you will capture her and bring her to us.  Right, Daisy?”

The one they called Daisy’s pointed ears had turned red.  Her goal was to help Fen’Harel, but she saw the wisdom in saving Elanna as well.  “You’re correct in this matter, Cammen.  I have been told that there are other Wardens chasing after Surana.  I’m sure they will capture her and their quickest path back to wherever they came from will be back through Kirkwall.  You will kill her captors and bring her before me.”

“Of course, Lady Daisy,” both minions said with a bow.

As soon as they had left the building and were back on the streets of Kirkwall, it was the dangerous streets of Lowtown or would be if they didn’t work for the dreaded Daisy.  They turned to each other.  “I don’t know about you, Mal, but I have heard of Lady Surana.  She’s a Grey Warden mage.  If I see her, I’m walking the other way.”

“I’m right there with you, Jane,” Mal agreed.  “Still, don’t tell the Daisy that.  She’s been unhinged since her shem girlfriend captained her ship right out of the city and didn’t say when she’d return.”

“I hear you,” Jane shook his head.  “Did you hear about the destruction of the Temple of Sacred Ashes?  Things are getting rough again.”

“Too bad we don’t have the Champion around anymore,” Mal agreed.  “I have a feeling we could have used her about now.”


	17. Varric Does Not Concur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra has her prisoner clapped in chains and moved.

**Haven**

The prisoner would live.  Solas, the bald Apostate had managed to stop the spread of the Mark on the prisoner and he had assured her that she would recover.  Adan concurred that his patient was, indeed, improving. 

He did not concur, however, when Cassandra decided to clamp iron cuffs on her and ordered her to be taken to the chantry basement so she could be questioned when she finally regained consciousness.  “What the blazes has gotten into you, Seeker?”  He railed.  “She was hurt pretty badly, you can’t honestly think she had anything to do with that explosion or that she won’t take a turn for the worse in that drafty dungeon.”

“It isn’t a dungeon… exactly,” she pointed out.  “As it turns out, Leliana believes her innocent, too, but I have my doubts.  Either way, Solas has told me that she is our best chance of closing that massive tear over the remains of the Temple."

Solas stood at the far end of the room, with Varric behind him.  The moment Cassandra had reassigned the guards that had been watching over Varric on Solas and told Varric he could leave, Varric had decided that he needed to keep an eye on the elven apostate in case he needed help.  Varric glanced at the elf now.  “You just had to tell her didn’t you?”

“Well, it’s true,” Solas protested.  “The prisoner is our best shot.

“You aren’t going to throw my patient over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes and waltz out of here with her,” Adan protested.

“I’ll take her,” Varric carefully scooped the prisoner off of the bed and held her awkwardly in his arms.  She wasn’t tall for a human, but she was taller than the dwarf.  “Come on, Lady Trevelyan, I won’t let the mean seeker hurt you.”  The woman in his arms stirred, but didn’t open her eyes.

“Lady Trevelyan?” Cassandra looked from Varric to the prisoner and back as she considered putting the guards back on him.

“Yes, well… I might have met her before.”  He didn’t elaborate.  “Lead the way, Seeker.” 

Varric gently laid Evelyn down on the floor.  “Couldn’t you at least provide her with a mattress or blanket?”

“She killed the Divine,” the guard who brought forth the irons growled.

“As far as I know, you killed the Divine,” Varric countered.

“How do you know her?” Cassandra continued to pressed.

“We were both at the games the Teyrn of Highever hosted a year ago,” Varric admitted.  “I’m still a bit surprised that Sister Nightingale wasn’t there.  I heard she hadn’t even been invited.  It was quite the scandal.  I don’t suppose you’d know why that is.  Oh, she’s also been to Kirkwall.”

“Of course I wouldn’t know why Leliana wasn’t at some silly party hosted by a noble,” Cassandra answered too quickly, she was never good at lying and Varric had already caught on to that.

“Seeker Pentaghast!”  One of the soldiers ran in.  “Commander Cullen just reported that two more rifts have opened up between us and the Temple of Sacred Ashes.  He says that demons are filling the fields.  He needs help and asks that you find a way to stop the Breach soon.  He was rather urgent about that.”

“We’ll go help,” Solas grabbed Varric’s collar and pulled him along.  “Seeker, bring the other prisoner to me as soon as you can.  I theorize that she can close the rifts and I think it would be wise to test that theory soon.”

“I’ll go find Leliana,” Cassandra decided.  “Hopefully she’ll know a way to get the prisoner awake.”


	18. Homicidal Sisters and Crazed Seekers.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn is interrogated by a homicidal sister and Crazed Seeker

Evelyn Trevelyan slowly opened her eyes and looked around.  She’d been having a nightmare where everything was green and she was running from giant spiders.  As she took in her surroundings, she hoped she was still having a nightmare.  She could fight the spiders the giant spiders that had been after her, but now she was chained and everything hurt.  Perhaps if she tried to wake up, she would find herself in a nice, soft bed instead of the cold hard floor she found herself lying on in a room with no windows and guards.  She slowly pushed her way up to a kneeling position.  Her left hand flared and she swore there was a light.  What in the name of the Maker?  “Where am I?”

No one answered.  She looked down at her left hand.  The light flared again and pain shot through it for a split second.  She gasped, which was when she became aware of the four armed people around her.  Then the door opened and a dark-haired woman marched in.  She wore the uniform of a Seeker.  Crap, Evelyn wondered if she had been captured by Templars?  She wouldn’t have been surprised if they rose up against the mages during the conclave.  She remembered going towards the Divine’s room, but nothing after that.  Was Brian there somewhere?  She’d also heard a rumor that Charlotte, the youngest of her older sisters might be there as well.  She was a cleric; the Templars wouldn’t hurt her, would they? 

The Seeker continued towards her, behind her was a red-haired woman in light chainmaille and a purple scarf covering her head.

“Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you,” the Seeker demanded.

“Because a lot of people think I’m not that bad once they get to know me?” Evelyn suggested.

“The Conclave is destroyed.  Everyone who attended is dead,” the dark-haired menace continued.  “Except for you.”

“Everyone?” Tears filled Evelyn’s eyes.  “Brian… Charlotte…”  She gulped.  She was sure Brian had made it and had no doubts that Charlotte really had been there somewhere.  That didn’t even count the other mages who had gone with her.  Anthony and Stephen were likely dead, too.  “You think I’m responsible?  There were people I cared about at that Conclave.”

“Explain _this_.”  The seeker grabbed her shackled hands and lifted them.

“You think someone in the temple shackled me?”  Evelyn was confused.  “I’m pretty sure you guys did that.”  Then her left hand flared again.  “Oh, that.  I… can’t.”

“What do you mean, you _can’t_ ,” the seeker yelled at her.

“I don’t know what that is or how it got there,” Evelyn declared.  It hadn’t been there when she was at the Conclave.

“You’re lying,” the seeker grabbed her.  Was this woman somehow related to Meredith?  Did all of those who served the Chantry eventually go off their rocker?  Ser Robert and the Templars at the Ostwick Circle weren’t like this.

The redhead in purple grabbed the Seeker and pulled her off of Evelyn.  “We need her, Cassandra.”

The moment the Seeker, Cassandra, was no longer yelling at her, Evelyn’s mind went back to those she’d known at the Conclave and all the nameless faces she’d seen.  “I can’t believe it.  All those people… dead.”

“Do you remember what happened?”  The saner of her two interrogators asked.  “How this began?”

“I… I was looking for Brian… my oldest brother is a Templar,” Evelyn began.  “I was going to talk to the Divine about a disturbing letter I’d received.  It was something to do with a Lord Seeker assembling Templars.  Then…”  She paused to search her memories.  “I remember running.  _Things_ were chasing me, and then… a woman?”

“A woman?” The redhead repeated.

“She reached out to me,” Evelyn continued.  “But then…”

“Go to the forward camp, Leliana,” Cassandra placed herself between Evelyn and the woman she called Leliana and forced Leliana back several steps.  “I will take her to the rift.”

“What _did_ happen?” Evelyn really wanted to know.

“It… will be easier to show you,” Cassandra led her out.

 

 

When Evelyn emerged from the Chantry, she found herself in a village.  She assumed it was Haven.  She’d ridden through it on her way to the Conclave.  Where the Temple of Sacred Ashes had once sat, there was now a large green tear in the sky.  Green lights reached high into the heavens.

“We call it the Breach,” Cassandra told her.  It’s a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour.  It’s not the only such rift, but it is the largest.  All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave.

“An explosion can do that?”  It made what Anders had done in Kirkwall seem so tame.  Evelyn had never been a fan of Grand Cleric Elthina, having visited Kirkwall, but that explosion had destroyed an exquisite chantry building.  One that made the chantry in Haven seem like a hovel.

“This one did,” Cassandra informed her.  “Unless we act, the Breach may grow until it swallows the world whole.”  The Breach grew again, as if emphasizing her words. 

The Mark on Evelyn’s hand flared to life and sent pain shooting across her hand and down her arm.  She screamed at the agony, as it forced her to her knees.  She curled her hand in and cradled it against her stomach.

“Each time the Breach expands, your mark spreads…”  Cassandra delivered the news.  “And it is killing you.  It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn’t much time.”

“You say it may be the key… to doing what?”  Evelyn had no idea what the Mark was or what had caused the explosion.

“Closing the Breach,” Cassandra tried to explain what Solas had painstakingly described to her.  “Whether that’s possible is something we shall discover shortly.  It is our only chance, however, and yours.”

Evelyn couldn’t believe that Cassandra was still acting like she was a criminal.  She’d just told her that whatever was on her hand was killing her!  “You still think I did this?  To myself?”

“Not intentionally,” Cassandra admitted.  “ _Something_ clearly went wrong.”

So Cassandra thought she was some sort of self-harming idiot.  “And if I’m not responsible?”

“Someone is,” Cassandra declared.  “And you are our only suspect.  “You wish to prove your innocence?  This is the only way.”

“It’s nice to see you learned your investigation techniques from Knight-Commander Meredith,” Evelyn snarked.  She’d been in Kirkwall before, but made sure to avoid the crazy commander.

Cassandra looked affronted by the accusation.  “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that.”

“Fine, you pretend I didn’t say that.”  Still, there was a big rift in the sky and Evelyn wouldn’t be able to find out what happened to the rest of her family who were in Ferelden until the thing had been dealt with.  She wondered if the rifts reached as far as Ostwick.  “Fine, let’s do this.”

“Then…?”  Cassandra seemed a bit taken aback.  “Does this mean you’ve changed your mind?”

“I’ll do what I can,” she promised.  “Whatever it takes, I’ll get that Breach closed.  Perhaps you didn’t notice that I live in Thedas, too; I’d like it to stay in one piece.”

Cassandra gave her an assessing look and then helped her to her feet.  The two women regarded each other for a moment, trying to get a read on the other’s true character and intent, before continuing on. 

As they walked through the camp, soldiers and villagers shook their fists at Evelyn and several hateful glares were cast her way.  “They have decided your guilt,” Cassandra explained.  “They need it.” 

For a moment, the back of a blonde haired woman distracted Evelyn.  She told herself that she was just giving herself false hope and then her attention was distracted.  “Die you heretic!”  A red-haired woman who’d been talking with a bald man shouted.  “You should be thrown in a pot of boiling oil and then have your remains thrown off of the mountains!”

“The people of Haven mourn our Most Holy, Divine Justinia,” Cassandra continued to ramble on.  “The Conclave was hers.”

“Yes, I know.  I was there,” Evelyn reminded her.

“It was a chance for peace between Mages and Templars,” Cassandra’s exposition went on. 

“That’s why I was there,” Evelyn pointed out.  “My…”  She stopped.  Cassandra didn’t realize she was a mage, yet.  Considering Anders actions in Kirkwall, perhaps it was better not to let that little secret out around the townsfolk who seemed to want to lynch her… or worse.

“She brought their leaders together,” Cassandra was obviously not really listening to her companion, wanting to work through her own pain by recounting what had happened.  “Now, they are dead.”

Evelyn supposed Catalina was very happy that she had sent Evelyn instead of going herself.  She wondered if she should tell anyone that at least one grand enchanter was still alive.

They continued on towards the gates of the city and Cassandra continued her illumination.  “We lash out, like the sky, but we must think beyond ourselves; as she did.  Until the Breach is sealed.”  Two soldiers opened the doors that guarded the city of Haven and Cassandra led Evelyn through.  She pulled out a small dagger and Evelyn braced herself, debating on whether to use her magic or her less impressive hand to hand techniques.  “There will be a trial.  I can promise no more.”  She sliced up and hit a hidden mechanism that freed the manacles. 

“Where are you taking me?” Evelyn wondered.

“We’re going to meet a couple of friends on our way to rendezvous with Leliana,” Cassandra explained.  “Just stay near me and you’ll be fine.”

“Friends of yours,” Evelyn pointed out.  “I don’t know them.”  She continued walking over a bridge that led towards the valley between the village and temple.  Another flare sent her to her knees.

Cassandra helped her up.  “The pulses are coming stronger now.  Perhaps friends was too strong a word.  We are meeting up with two allies who will help us.”

There was an explosion and Evelyn found herself falling again.


	19. Meeting Old and New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra takes Evelyn to where Varric and Solas wait.

Evelyn Trevelyan realized that this time she had not actually lost consciousness.  She was only dazed from falling to the frozen river under the bridge, although her tailbone felt bruised as well.  She could see the Breach shootings little bolts of light out in every direction.  They veered through the valley between Haven and the Temple of Sacred Ashes.  That must have been what shattered the bridge under her.  As she stood, one of the bolts formed into a demon.

“Stay behind me,” Cassandra ordered, pulling out a long sword and whipping her shield from her back.  She sized up the demon for a moment and then rammed it.  She didn’t see the air around where she’d been standing boiling, but Evelyn did.

A green light began emerging from the river.  She looked around for a weapon; all she saw was a mage’s staff.  So much for not letting her captors know that she was a mage.  The staff wasn’t as nice as the one that she’d carried from Ostwick, but she didn’t really need one.  It was nice for any melee conflict and focused certain types of magic, depending on what material it was made of, but she could do magic regardless.  The magic was in her, not the staff.  Still, as a demon emerged from the ice, she lunged and grabbed it.  She twirled the staff and hit the demon across its shoulders, forcing it back.  Then she flicked her wrists, flames shot towards the creature.  It figured, as her specialty was ice magic.  The creature began to charge and she sent out a bolt of cold, freezing it.  Then she followed the move up with a swing and used the shaft to shatter the creature.

Evelyn walked slowly to Cassandra as the Seeker ran her own opponent through with her sword, killing the foul creature.  Cassandra then aimed the tip of the sword at her.  “Drop your weapon.”

“Fine,” Evelyn didn’t drop the staff.  “It isn’t as if I need this to use my magic.  I just like to have it for focus and melee situations.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Cassandra’s voice dropped.  “Wait,” she sheathed the sword.  “I can not protect you and I can not expect you to be defenseless.”  She started walking up the river’s snow-covered edge.  She avoided stepping on the slippery ice that covered the river whenever possible.  “I should remember you agreed to come willingly and didn’t set Flissa’s hair on fire when she declared that you should be boiled in oil.”

“The thought did cross my mind to do so,” Evelyn admitted, as they continued to walk.  “It’s… nice… to know how the villagers really feel about me.  At least I know not to go on moonlit walks late at night with them around.”

“Is that how you’ve been spending your time since the Circles fell?” Cassandra wondered.  “It’s been…”  She stopped as three more demons appeared before them.  She charged the closest one, while Evelyn sent out a Cone of Cold that enveloped the other two.  Then she followed it up with a standard cold blast to each one, shattering them.  Meanwhile, Cassandra had vanquished her own foe.

They continued walking.  “I admit to a few moonlit walks since the Circles fell.”  What she wasn’t admitting to were the walks before they fell.  An old mentor of hers, who had disappeared into a tall mysterious blue box, one that should have easily held one person but not multiple ones, had taught her how to turn into an eagle.  Morrigan had made her swear to keep the ability secret until she told her otherwise.  It had served her well in the past and she didn’t want to explain to any grand enchanters or Templars how she had learned to do so.  Besides, it had given her great freedom to be able to literally fly from the tower and go off on her own, no one the wiser.

“So you are a Circle Mage, not an apostate,” Cassandra nodded.  Then they stopped to kill another four demons.  When they were dead about ten minutes later, they continued on.  Stopping and killing the demons was almost becoming routine and Evelyn had impressed Cassandra at her skill with using her staff in melee conditions.

“Well,” Evelyn went back to their conversation.  “I was a Circle Mage; technically I’m an apostate now.  Although, it was my own Grand Enchanter who sent me to the Conclave as her representative.  I believe Brian was sent as Ser Robert’s agent.”

“Brian… Ser Robert?”  Cassandra led her up a small hill.  “Wasn’t Ser Robert the Knight Commander of the Ostwick Circle?”

“He was,” Evelyn confirmed.  “Brian was one of the Templars there.  He is… was… also my brother.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Cassandra did have to admit that knowing Evelyn had family at the Conclave did throw her motives into doubt.  Did you have any other family there?”

“I know the reverend mother my sister, Charlotte, served was there,” Evelyn needed to find a way to contact her parents and find out if Charlotte and Brian had indeed also been in the temple.  “My older sister, Brenna, is also a Templar.  She was supposed to be stopping by the Temple for just a day before continuing on to Highever.  She’s engaged to Teyrn Fergus Cousland.  However, I received a letter from her saying that Lord Seeker Lucius was gathering Templars together and she was going to find out what was happening there.”

“Where?”  Cassandra pressed.

“I don’t know for sure,” Evelyn admitted.  “I think she said Therinfal Redoubt.  I hope she went there instead of the Temple of Sacred Ashes.  Maker, I hope she just became impatient to see Fergus and went straight to Highever.”

“After we seal the Breach, we can find out,” Cassandra promised.  “After we seal the Breach, and you have not been found guilty at your trial, I am certain we will find out.”

New sounds, one of a fight, became evident.  “What is that?” Evelyn wondered.

“There’s fighting ahead,” Cassandra explained.  “That’s where they’re waiting for us.”

“Who?” Evelyn wondered.  “Who is fighting?  I haven’t seen anyone else since the bridge outside of Haven disappeared under us.”

“You’ll see,” Cassandra promised.

They emerged into the ruins of some structure.  A rift was in the sky and there were about half a dozen demons.  Evelyn could see a dwarf and elf fighting the demons.  The elf held a staff and the dwarf a crossbow.

“We must help them,” Cassandra declared.

Evelyn jumped into the ruins and cast shards of ice around her, freezing the three demons who had rushed to intercept her.  Spinning her staff, she then shattered them. 

Cassandra shook her head and made a running lunge towards her closest foe, while the dwarf finished off yet another demon with his crossbow and the elf used his staff to blast his foe.  It took three blasts, but the creature finally went down.

As soon as the battle was over, the elf, the bald elf who was running around snow-covered mountains in bare feet, grabbed Evelyn’s wrist.  “Quickly, before more come through.”  He held her hand up to the rift.  A stream of green light emanated from the Mark on Evelyn’s left hand.  Then Solas pulled her wrist back, the motion reminded her of threading a needle.  The needle must have sewn the rift back, because it closed.

“What did you do?”  She studied Solas.

“ _I_ did nothing,” he held out a hand.  “The credit is yours.”

Evelyn studied the mark on her left hand.  “At least this is good for something,” she still didn’t appreciate it being there. 

“Whatever magic opened the Breach in the Sky also placed that Mark upon your hand,” Solas explained.  “I theorized the Mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach’s wake… and it seems I was correct.”

“Meaning it could close the Breach itself,” Cassandra finished cleaning her sword and joined them.

“Possibly,” Solas agreed.  He gave Evelyn a half smile.  “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.”

“Good to know!”  The dwarf fixed his gloves.  “Here I thought we’d be ass-deep in demons forever.”  He walked to them and introduced himself.  “Verric Thethras: Rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong.  He winked at Cassandra who glared at him in response.

Evelyn studied him.  There was something familiar about Varric, had she met him before?  He was with Chantry people; perhaps he’d somehow visited her Circle.  “Are you with the Chantry or…”

Solas chuckled.  “Was that a serious question?”

“Technically, I’m a prisoner, just like you,” Varric began fixing his gloves again.

“I brought you here to tell your story to the Divine,” Cassandra protested.  “Clearly that is no longer necessary.”

“Yet here I am,” Varric pointed out.  “Lucky for you, considering current events.”

“That’s a nice crossbow,” Evelyn studied the repeating crossbow for a moment.  She’d never seen anything like it in action.  She studied history, including ancient and more modern weapons, but hadn’t heard of a repeating crossbow before now.  Still, she swore she’d seen it and its owner before.

“Bianca’s one of a kind,” Varric beamed with pride.  “Bianca and I have been through a lot together.”

“You named your crossbow Bianca?”  She’d only heard of people naming their weapons in history books.  She should start doing so, but not with the staff she now held.  It was weak and lame.

“Of course,” Varric answered.  “And she’ll be great company as we travel through the valley together.”

“Well, it’s good to meet both of you,” Evelyn smiled at him.  Finally, here was someone who didn’t seem to want her dead and was pleasant to talk to.

Solas chuckled again.  “You may reconsider that stance, in time.”

“Aw,” Varric put his hand over his face and then his heart.  “I’m sure we’ll become great friends in the valley, Chuckles.”

“Absolutely not,” Cassandra objected.  “Your help is appreciated, Varric, but…”

“Have you been in the Valley lately, Seeker?”  Varric pointed out.  “Your soldiers aren’t in control, anymore.  You need me.”

Cassandra made a disgusted noise and walked away.

“My name is Solas if there are to be introductions,” Solas interrupted.  “I am pleased to see you still live.”

“He means ‘I kept that mark from killing you while you slept’,” Varric interpreted for her.

“You seem to know a great deal about it all,” Evelyn observed.   He seemed to be the only one who understood anything about the mystery mark on her left hand.

“Solas is an apostate,” Cassandra explained.  “He’s well versed on such matters.”

“Technically, all mages are now apostates, Cassandra,” Solas pointed out.  “My travels have allowed me to learn much of the Fade, far beyond the experience of any Circle Mage.  I came to offer whatever help I can give with the Breach.  If it is not closed, we’re all doomed, regardless of origin.”

So she was dealing with a snotty apostate who thought he was better than her and the other mages who’d been forced into Circles.  Well, la, de, da.  Then another thought, or rather a memory, hit her.  It was that of Morrigan telling her to never trust a bald elf.  This was definitely a bald elf.  “And when this is over?”  She wondered, not that she cared overmuch.  Well, she didn’t care unless she needed him to continue to stop the Mark from killing her.

“We’ll see then, won’t we?”  Solas turned to Cassandra.  “Cassandra, you should know that the magic I’ve seen here is unlike any I’ve seen before.  Your prisoner is a mage, but she isn’t powerful enough to do this.”

“Understood,” Cassandra nodded.  “We must get to the forward camp quickly.”  She walked forward.

“Well,” Varric looked up into Evelyn’s emerald eyes.  “Bianca’s excited.”

Evelyn followed him over a small wall and down another path.  “I swear I’ve met Bianca, and you Varric, before.  “You’d think I’d remember if I’d seen her in action.  Where are you from?”

“Kirkwall,” he answered.  “The Seeker thought I needed a break from those venerable streets, though.”

“I’ve been to Kirkwall before,” she admitted.  “But I don’t…”  She stopped.  Yes, she had seen him then and before then.  He hung out with Marian Hawke, the Champion of Kirkwall.  She and Neria Surana had spent some time with Marian while at Fergus Cousland’s Games.  It was an intricate party and tournament he’d set up to woo one of his sisters, which he’d done after meeting Brenna.  She’d also played a few games of Wicked Grace with him when she’d later gone to Kirkwall.  They’d had a fine time, although, Hawke had been in a bad mood having had a fight with her boyfriend earlier.  “Highever, you were in Highever at the Cousland Games.  We’ve also played cards at the Hanged Man.  Boy, that place was a dump.”

“I was at those games,” now recognition lit his eyes.  “How could I not recognize those pretty green eyes, those tight golden curls, and the way you twirl a staff, Evie Trevelyan.  I don’t think many in those games ever realized you were a mage.  I know Choir Boy never figured it out.  He still has a major crush on you.  He would probably declare peace with Kirkwall if you were to play cards at the Hanged Man again.”

“Prince Sebastian of Starkhaven is a dangerous Chantry Zealot,” Evelyn countered.  “I questioned his beliefs about mage freedom.  Believe me, I didn’t like the answers.”

“You two know each other?” Cassandra’s voice tensed.

“Evie and Brian Trevelyan ended up in the top five of the Cousland games,” Varric reported.  “She did better than Hawke in both the archery portion and the melee.”

“But she’s a mage,” Cassandra objected.

“So is Marian,” Evelyn pointed out.

“You’ve seen her swing that staff, Seeker,” Varric reminded her.  “She knows what she’s doing with it.  She isn’t a half bad shot, either.”

“What happened to Cullen after the fall of the Gallows?” Evelyn wanted to know.  She had mixed feelings about the Templar, but he and Brian had been great friends.  She wondered that he hadn’t written to Brian after the destruction of the Kirkwall Chantry.

“You’ll see, Emerald,” Varric promised.

“Emerald?” Evelyn repeated.

“You have those pretty green eyes and you’re a rare, unexpected gem,” Varric explained.  “I’ll never forget the way you took down Choir Boy in that melee.  He still has no idea he was taken out by a mage, either.  That makes me smile whenever I think about it.”

Cassandra made a disgusted noise as her prisoners continued to talk about Fergus Cousland’s tournament.  So the prisoner knew the Champion of Kirkwall.  If she knew the Hero of Ferelden, too, Cassandra was going to wonder what fate was doing to her.

“Too bad I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in the Hissing Wastelands when I went up against the Hero of Ferelden in that melee,” Evelyn recalled.  “I would have liked to have been watching the King and Queen of Ferelden from the stands.  The way those two moved together was amazing.  I am not ashamed to admit I was taken down by her.”

Cassandra made yet another disgusted noise.


	20. Old Times with New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn and her new friends travel to the remains of the Temple of Sacred Ashes as she and Varric recall old times.

Solas had tried to get in a couple of words edgewise on the way to the base camp, but the two prisoners, Varric and Evelyn, were acting like long lost friends who had become reunited.  Evelyn realized he had been trying to talk, but she felt no guilt in ignoring him in favor of catching up with Varric.  She remembered what Morrigan had told her about bald elves and already mistrusted Solas.

            “You had to join forces with Neil and Catie to even get a cut of the bets at the game?” Evelyn had been too worried about competing to realize that Bann Wulf’s grandson and the Teyrna of Gwaren had set up bets on those competing.  They wouldn’t even brook competition; they merely let Varric work with them.

            “Those kids can be scary,” Varric assured her.  “I don’t envy anyone who takes on Gwaren once that girl is grown.  Hey, Seeker, do you know why Nightingale wasn’t at Fergus Cousland’s Games?  Wasn’t she a Hero of the Fifth Blight?  Several of the Hero’s old companions were there.  There was Zevran Arainai, Oghren, and King Alistair, but Nightingale was noticeably missing.”

            “I have no idea what you are talking about,” Cassandra insisted. 

            “Really?” Varric continued digging.  “There were rumors circulating that she and the queen had some sort of falling out and she hadn’t been invited.  I still want to know the details of that.”

            “I wouldn’t know,” Cassandra lied.  She did know a few of the details, although not all of them.  There had been quite the scene on the streets of Denerim.  The Queen of Ferelden had banished the Divine’s Left Hand from her lands by the end and the papers that Leliana had been carrying had been stolen.  The Divine had refused to move against the queen; apparently, she was somehow already involved in the falling out between Leliana and Elissa Cousland.

            Varric decided to let the matter drop, for now.  “So what did happen at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, Emerald?”

            “I don’t know,” she protested.

            “That will get you every time,” Varric shook his head.  “You should have spun a story.”

            “That is what you would have done,” Cassandra pointed out.

            “So you have both met the Champion of Kirkwall and the Hero of Ferelden,” Solas used his staff as a walking stick.  “Yet Seeker Pentaghast was unable to find either one.”

            “I didn’t really get a one on one introduction to the Hero of Ferelden,” Varric confessed.  “Emerald here met her though Warden Commander Surana, as did Hawke.  Hawke’s little sister helped the Hero out a couple of times during the Blight.”

            “I thought Hawke’s sister, Bethany, died during the Fifth Blight,” Cassandra interrupted.

            “She did,” Varric assured her.  “Thanks to the Doctor, however, she got better.”

            “Who is this Doctor?” Solas wanted to know.

            Varric and Evelyn exchanged a look.  “You don’t need to worry about him, Chuckles.  I doubt you two will ever meet.  I haven’t heard from him in over a year, not since he took Hawke away.” 

 

 

            The group finally made it to the base camp, although Evelyn had to close yet another rift right outside of the entrance.  Then they were let through a pair of doors and then saw a Chantry cleric leaning on a table, his hands planted.  Leliana was behind him, her arms crossed.

            The cleric stood up straight.  “Here they come.”

            Leliana approached the group.  “You made it.  Chancellor Roderick,” she turned to him, “this is…”

            “I know who she is,” he cut Leliana off.  “As Grand Chancellor of the Chantry, I hereby order you to take this criminal to Val Royeaux to face execution.”

            “Order me,” Cassandra cocked her head and her eyes widened.  “You are a glorified clerk, a bureaucrat.”

            He took an aggressive step towards her.  “And you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly serves the Chantry.”

            “We served the Most Holy, Chancellor” Leliana corrected.  “As you well know.”

            Roderick threw up his hands.  “Justinia is dead!  We must elect her replacement.  Let her decide on the matter.”

            “You will not even get that vote,” Evelyn took a step towards them.  “I know who you are, Roderick.  Charlotte referred to you as ‘the Boot Licker’ more than once and she was right.  That’s all you are.  If you were truly important, you would have been in the Temple of Sacred Ashes with the rest of us, instead of cowering from the mages and Templars in Haven.  As far as I can see, none of you are actually in charge here.”

            “You killed everyone who was in charge!”  Roderick shouted at her.          

            Cassandra stepped between Evelyn and Roderick.

            “Call a retreat, Seeker,” his voice leveled.  “Our position here is hopeless.

            “We can stop this before it’s too late,” Cassandra insisted.

            “How?” Roderick wanted to know.  “You won’t survive long enough to reach the temple, even with all of your soldiers.”

            “We must get to the temple, this,” she pointed to a spot on the map.  “Is the quickest route.”

            “But it’s not the safest,” Leliana countered.  “Our forces can charge as a distraction as we go through the mountains.”

            “We lost contact with an entire squad on that path,” Cassandra reminded her.  “It’s too risky.”

            “Listen to me,” Roderick insisted.  “Abandon this now, before more lives are lost.”

            The Breach expanded again, distracting the arguing trio.  In response, the Mark on Evelyn’s hand began glowing again as pain shot up her arm.  Then the pain and glow just stopped.

            Cassandra approached her.  “How do you think we should proceed?”

            “Now you’re asking me my opinion?” Evelyn had just wondered what made a trio of Chantry officials qualified to make tactical decisions and now they wanted to ask a Circle Mage who’d been locked up most of her life.

            “You have the Mark,” Solas pointed out.

            “And you are the one we must keep alive,” Cassandra added.  “Since we can not agree on our own, we are asking for your input.”

            “I saw we go through the mountain,” Evelyn decided.  “Even the bootlicker thinks going the other way is suicide and I don’t want to get a bunch of soldiers killed needlessly.  You need to start trying to work together, look at what is at stake.”

            “Leliana,” Cassandra went to her friend.  “Bring everyone left in the valley.  Everyone.”

            As Cassandra passed Roderick he spoke.  “On your head be the consequences, Seeker.”

            “You don’t have the authority to place blame,” Evelyn walked pass Rodrick.  “Bootlicker.”

            “So, you’ve heard of Roderick before?” Varric commented as they departed the camp.  “It sounds like your mutual acquaintances aren’t very fond of him.”

            “My sister, Charlotte, had a few run-ins with him,” Evelyn explained.  “He’s a pompous ass.  They only managed to work well together when he realized that she also had such a high position due to her family’s generous donations to the Chantry.  He reminds me of Grand Cleric Elthina, too.  I don’t know why.”

            “You met Elthina?” Varric was not enjoying the steep climb in the snow.

            “I was part of a small group of mages and Templars who were sent from Ostwick to investigate matters in Kirkwall,” she revealed as she climbed up ladders to an old mine.

            “I thought the Divine sent Sister Nightingale to do that,” Varric protested.

            “The Gallows was a little too close to several other Circles for the Knight Commander and Grand Clerics comfort,” she continued to climb.  “They put some pressure on the Divine to be allowed to do their own little investigation.”

            “The tunnel lies just ahead, the path to the temple lies just beyond it.”  Cassandra had been listening in.  “Why weren’t the Seekers notified about Circles spying on each other?  I was the Divine’s Right Hand, I should have been notified.”

            “We _really_ didn’t want Meredith or Elthina to know why we were there,” Evelyn made it to the top of the structure and began walking towards the opening of the mine.  “We were posing as a small Chantry tour to a neighboring city.  We were even met by some of their Templars.  We hadn’t even made it into the city, though, when we were attacked by a group of Dalish Elves.”

            “Daisy’s clan aren’t the type to attack,” Varric remembered that they had been infiltrated before.

            “Indeed, I can’t see any clan attacking Chantry representatives,” Solas insisted.  He looked around.  “What type of tunnel is this, a mine?”

            “It’s part of an old mining complex,” Cassandra explained.  “These mountains are full of such paths.”

            “And your missing soldiers are in there somewhere?” Varric shook his head.

            “Along with whatever has detained them,” Solas added.

            “We shall see soon enough,” Cassandra assured them.

            “Well, the elves did attack,” Evelyn commented, but the change in conversation brought up another question.  “Varric, I’ve met Queen Elissa Cousland-Theirin and I’ve read _the Hero’s Tale_.  In it, and according to other accounts, this area used to be overrun by cultists.  They controlled the City of Haven and the Temple of Sacred Ashes, well most of the temple, anyway.”

            “That’s correct,” Varric agreed.

            “Then how…”  She was interrupted as a shade interrupted them.  She twirled her staff and hit it across the chest as Cassandra engaged the creature.  She then noticed a wraith sneaking up on them.  “Varric nine o’clock.”

            “I see it, Emerald,” he turned Bianca on the wisp.  Evelyn froze it and Varric’s shot caused it to shatter.  They turned to see Cassandra and Solas still fighting the Shade.  “Should we help them?”

            “No,” Evie shrugged.  “I think Cassandra is having fun and Solas is just getting in her way.”

            Sure enough, the Seeker looked content as she bashed her shield across the shade’s head.  Then followed that with a thrust of her sword.

            “She has been dealing with Roderick,” Varric agreed.  She probably needs something to help her cool down.”

            Cassandra just glanced at them as the shade died and they continued on. 

“So back to my question,” Evelyn followed.  “How are there so many mines in these mountains, and how is there one between Haven and the temple?  Wouldn’t the cultists have killed them all?”

“Um…”  Cassandra knew of the existence of the mines, but not enough of them to answer that question.

“Perhaps they just left the minors alone,” Solas suggested.

“They used to sacrifice humans,” Evelyn pointed out.  “I bet if we excavate the town, we’ll find the huge altars that the stories say the Hero found here.  If there were minors working around them, who were independent of their crazy cult, they probably sent out raiding parties to capture some so they could sacrifice them to the dragon they claimed was Andraste.”

Cassandra didn’t mention that she’d asked about those altars.  Leliana had confirmed that they had indeed been in the village before the Hero of Ferelden had found the Ashes of Andraste.  She told Cassandra that she really didn’t like to think about what might have happened to them.

“Maybe the mines, and minors, predate the cult,” Varric suggested.  “But I realize they’re in too good of condition, Emerald,” Evelyn closed her mouth as that was indeed what she was going to say.  “My guess would be that the cultists were the minors.  Everyone needs an occupation and they were very likely trading the metal and ore to other villages to fund their evil schemes and to make sure their dragons were comfortable.”

“That makes sense,” Evelyn conceded.

They encountered a few more wisps and shades before they made it out of the mine.  As they emerged on the other side of the mountain, they found half a dozen dead scouts          

Varric let out a sigh.  “I guess we found the soldiers.”

“That cannot be all of them,” Cassandra protested.

“So the others could be holed up ahead,” Varric reasoned.

“Our priority must be the Breach,” Solas insisted.  “Unless we seal it soon, no one is safe.”

“I’m leaving that to Emerald,” Varric smiled at her as they continued along the path.

“I want to find the missing soldiers,” Evelyn glared at Solas.  “Unlike some of us, their lives do matter to me.”  She turned back and noticed another rift on the horizon.  “They’re multiplying like Chantry devout nugs.  Back me up, I’m going in.” 

Evelyn ran in and lifted her hand, only to be struck by one of the wraiths.  While Varric was battling another wraith, Cassandra and Solas were only sauntering in.  She gritted her teeth from the pain and blasted the creature with a simple fireball; she was beginning to realize those little buggers hated fire.  Cassandra maneuvered around her to engage another wraith, which was when she noticed a dozen soldiers fighting the other two.  She raised her hand again and sent the energy from the mark through the rift. 

“Lady Cassandra,” one of the soldiers happily greeted her.

“Lieutenant, you’re alive!”  Cassandra moved to protect them from any more demons.  Sure enough, the rift bubbled and spat out three terrors.

“Just barely,” the lieutenant engaged on of the terrors while Cassandra and her men engaged the second one. 

Varric shot at the third one, but Evelyn had already frozen it.  The thing just shattered.  Evelyn nodded to him before raising her left hand again to send another wave of energy into the rift.  This time she was able to pull back and stitch it closed.

“Sealed, as before,” Solas stated the obvious.  “You are becoming quite proficient with that thing.”

“Thanks, not wanting to die is a big motivator,” Evelyn pointed out.

“Let’s hope it works on the big one,” Varric remarked.  “I don’t want to die, either.”

Cassandra helped the lieutenant to her feet.  “Thank the Maker you finally arrived, Lady Cassandra,” she was nursing a wound on her side.  “I don’t think we could have held out much longer.”

“Thank our prisoner, lieutenant,” she turned to Evelyn.  “She insisted we come this way.”

“The prisoner,” the lieutenant studied Evelyn for a moment.  “Then you…?”

“It was worth saving you if we could,” Evelyn assured her.

“Then you have my sincere gratitude,” the lieutenant saluted her.

“The way into the valley behind us is clear for the moment,” Cassandra advised the lieutenant.  “Go, while you still have time.”

“At once,” the lieutenant nodded.  “Let’s move!”

“We could have used the help of the uninjured ones,” Evelyn protested.  “Sure, we’re doing fine for now, but that may not last.”  Especially with the bald elf obviously holding back.

The bald elf interrupted, rather than running after the soldiers.  “The path ahead appears to be clear of demons as well.”

“Let’s hurry before that changes,” Cassandra led them forward to stairs which led back down into the valley.

They had made it a third of a mile when Varric pointed out a problem.  “So holes in the Fade don’t just _accidentally_ happen, right?”

“If enough magic is brought to bear, it _is_ possible,” Solas insisted.

“But there are easier ways to make things explode,” Varric knew that from personal experience.

“That is true,” Solas conceded.

“We will consider how it happened when the immediate danger is past,” Cassandra assured them.

“What did Anders use to make the overly gaudy Kirkwall Chantry explode?”  Evelyn wondered.

“It wasn’t overly gaudy,” Varric protested.

“I was in it once,” Evelyn reminded him.  “Grand Cleric Elthina was obviously in love with gold and candles.”  She could see the Temple of Andraste in the distance now.  Its top spires were gone.

“You forgot statues, she loved statues,” Varric pointed out as they headed directly to the temple.


	21. Spectral Evidence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn and company reach the ruins of the temple. Cassandra finds evidence of Evie's innocence.

There were no demons left in the valley, at least there didn’t seem to be as Evelyn and her party approached the temple.  “I do know you, Varric.  Not only were we both at Teyrn Cousland’s party.  I met you again during the time I spent in Kirkwall,” Evelyn was surprised she hadn’t recognized Varric at first.  “We played Wicked Grace together in the Hanged Man.  Bethany had just told Hawke that Isabela cheats at cards.”

“I remember that day,” Varric nodded.  “She never figured out how and threatened to write the Hero of Ferelden to ask her.”  He stopped as they stepped on the grounds of the temple and looked at the carnage before him.  People had been burned and preserved where they stood.  One could still see their silent screams and looks of terror. 

Solas also looked around.  “The temple of Sacred Ashes.”

“What’s left of it,” Varric muttered.

“That is where you walked out of the Fade and the soldiers found you,” Cassandra revealed.  “They say a woman was in the rift behind you.  No one knows who she was.”

Evelyn continued into the temple.  There were more frozen and burnt figured, stuck where they had fallen.  “Did Kirkwall look like this when the chantry was destroyed?”

“No, Blondie was cleaner,” Varric assured her.  “There was nothing left of those who were inside.”

“You mean the innocent faithful that he murdered,” Cassandra corrected.  She glanced at Evelyn.  “You said you had met Grand Enchanter Elthina, surely you don’t think she deserved her fate.”

“She was as bad as Meredith,” Evelyn declared.  “In some ways, she was worse.  I heard Marian pleading with her to do something about the plight of the mages in Kirkwall and she refused.  She stood there and spat out rhetoric rather than lift a finger for those who were truly suffering.  By the looks of her chantry and the state of Lowtown, she didn’t lift a finger for anyone who was suffering in her city, mage or no.  She was the only one who could bring Meredith to heel and she refused to do so, she just placated the mages with words as she allowed Meredith free reign.  I later learned, after bringing these concerns to my father, that Elthina was even the one who appointed Meredith to her position.  She not only was no innocent, there was blood on her hands.” 

“She refused to even appoint a new Viscount and Meredith was blocking any vote to put someone in the office,” Varric added.  “Emerald’s right, Elthina was no saint.”  He noticed the Breach, now hovering in the air near them.  “The Breach is a long way up.”

“You’re here!”  Leliana ran to them.  “Thank the Maker.”

“Leliana, have your men take up position around the temple,” Cassandra instructed.  She turned to Evelyn.  “This is your chance to end this.  Are you ready?”

“I don’t even know if I can reach that thing,” Evelyn gazed at the Breach.  Maker, it was high up.  “Much less close it.”  It was also huge.

“No,” Solas protested.  “This rift was the first, and it is the key.  Seal it and perhaps we seal the Breach.”

“Then let’s find a way down,” Cassandra looked for a path.  “And be careful.”

Evelyn walked through what used to be a hall.  “Varric, when Hawke fought Meredith was Cull…”  She stopped as a voice began to speak on the air.

The voice was deep.  “Now is the hour of our victory.  Bring forth the sacrifice.”

“What are we hearing?”  Cassandra was not comfortable with disembodied voices.

“At a guess,” Solas mused.  “The person who created the Breach.”

“How would you know what they sounded like?” Evelyn couldn’t get past the fact that he was a bald-headed elf, which she’d been warned about.  “Were you near the temple?  Did you hear something?”  She became distracted by large red crystals that were coming out of the temple.

Varric was not happy to see those crystals.  “You know this stuff is red lyrium, Seeker.”

“I see it Varric,” Cassandra confirmed.

“But what’s it _doing_ here?” He pressed.

“Magic could have drawn on lyrium beneath the temple, corrupted it,” Solas speculated.

“What magic would cause lyrium to turn red?” Evelyn wondered.  “Isn’t this the stuff that caused Meredith to go from crazy to stark raving mad?”

“It’s evil,” Varric agreed.  “Whatever you do, don’t touch it.”

“Keep the sacrifice still,” the disembodied voice was back.

“Someone help me!”  This was a new ghostly voice, one that Evelyn could have sworn she’d heard before.

“That is Divine Justinia’s voice!”  Cassandra recognized it easily.

“Someone help me!”  Justinia’s voice cried again.

“What’s going on here?” A new voice entered.  Evelyn couldn’t place where she’d heard that one as well.

“That was your voice,” Cassandra looked at Evelyn, amazed.  “Most Holy called out for you, but…”

They were now to the Breach and it was slowly moving and remolding itself.  Then shadowy figures appeared.  One of the figures was Divine Justinia.  Her arms were held out at her sides and appeared restrained.  In front of her was a large, dark shadow. 

Then a ghostly figure of Evelyn appeared.  She was wearing mage robes and her golden curls were flying loose.  “What’s going on here?”

“Run!  Run while you can!”  Justinia cried out to her.

“We have an intruder,” the shadowy figure spoke in the same deep voice that had been heard before.  “Kill her, now!”

There was a sharp flare and bright light filled the temple before the figures disappeared.

“You _were_ there,” Cassandra accused Evelyn.  “Who attacked?  And the Divine, was she…?  Is this vision true?  What are we seeing?”

“What part of I don’t remember don’t you understand?”  Evelyn knew she’d told Cassandra that multiple times.

“There are echoes of what happened here in our surroundings,” Solas explained.  “The Fade bleeds through this place.  This rift is not sealed, but it is closed; albeit temporarily.  I believe that with the Mark, the rift can be opened and then sealed properly and safely.  However, opening the rift will likely attract attention from the other side.”

Cassandra looked at the soldiers.  “That means demons.  Stand ready.”

The soldiers unsheathed their swords and slowly approached the Breach.  Archers readied their bows as Leliana slowly walked into the opening, as she readied an arrow of her own.  One of the archers nodded to Cassandra who then nodded to Evelyn.  Evelyn held her hand out and poured magic from the Mark into the Breach.  It opened and a large pride demon stepped out.  Sweet Maker, couldn’t they have just had more wraiths?

Cassandra held up her sword.  “Now!”  The soldiers engaged the creature as the archers released their arrows.  She turned back to Evelyn.  “Do it!”

Evelyn poured energy back into the Breach as the others engaged the pride demon.  She paused as an electric whip hit too close to her.  The creature was charging at her, while the soldiers nursed their injuries or chased back after it.  Evelyn sighed.  She jammed the end of her staff into the creature; she really didn’t like the balance on it.  “Stand back!”  She instructed the soldiers, she unleashed a blizzard on the creature, halting it in its tracks.  Then she turned her attention back to the Breach as the soldiers hacked at the ice sculpture of a pride demon that she had made for them.  She then poured energy into the Breach again, before anything new could pop out.

“Come on, Emerald,” Varric shouted encouragement.

She continued to pour the energy into the Breach for several more minutes and then pulled her hand back to stitch it closed.  She weaved on her feet for a moment and passed out.


	22. Magic and Religion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn wakes up back in Haven. She meets up with someone she is very happy to see and agrees to start an Inquisition.

Birds were singing and horses neighed in the distance.  Evelyn slowly opened her eyes.  She was afraid she’d find herself back in the chantry basement, under guard, and chained.  What she saw was a small cabin.  She was lying on a small, but moderately soft bed.  There was a chest in the corner.  A single candle, in a chamber-stick style candle holder, burned beside her.

The door opened and a timid elf came in carrying a box, which he dropped when he saw her.  “Oh.  I didn’t know you were awake, I swear.”

Evelyn sluggishly sat up and faced him.  “That’s all right.  Where am I?”

The elf dropped to his knees and practically placed the top of his head on the floor.  “I beg your forgiveness and your blessing.  I am but a humble servant.  You are back in Haven, my lady.  They say you saved us.  The Breach stopped growing, just like the Mark on your hand.”

Evelyn looked down at the Mark. It still glowed, but it no longer hurt.

“It’s all anyone’s talked about for the last three days,” the elf continued.

She’d been unconscious for three days?  At least the Breach wasn’t about to kill them.  “Then the danger is over?”

“The Breach is still in the sky,” the elf’s voice quivered.  “But that’s what they say.  I’m certain Lady Cassandra will want to know you’ve waken.  She said at once.”

“And where is she?” Evelyn wondered.  Not that she had any real desire to speak with the seeker immediately.  She hadn’t forgotten that the woman wanted to put her on trial for murder, but at least she hadn’t wanted to lynch her, or worse, like the villagers of Haven did.

“She’s in the chantry, with the Lord Chancellor,” the elf answered.  “She said at once.”  He ran from the room.

Evelyn looked around for supplies.  The inferior staff she’d picked up in the valley was leaning against a wall.  Another staff was sitting nearby it.  She picked up the second staff.  It wasn’t as strong as she liked, but it held more power than the other.  It was also a bit more balanced, despite the little gold dragon at the top.  She had to admit that she kind of liked the staff.

She opened the chests in the room and discovered some lightweight armor.  It was better than the merchant’s coat that Cassandra had given her before.  It was white leather with copper plated sleeves and accents.  There was also an orange sash and scarf.  She slowly dressed and then cautiously opened the door.

The villagers of Haven were outside her door once again.  This time they seemed to be cheering instead of calling for her blood, but she wasn’t going anywhere near them.  She didn’t trust them still, not when they’d threatened her life the last time she’d seen them.  Didn’t they have somewhere else to be?  Did these villagers not have lives, families, occupations?  She’d been unconscious for three days.  Had they been out there the entire time or had the elf alerted them that she was awake?

She spotted a window that overlooked a small grove of trees.  She looked around quickly to make sure that no one was watching and then she transformed into an eagle and flew out of the window.  She spied the villagers again; they seemed to line up between the cabin she had been in and the chantry.  There was no way she was going back down there until they’d dispersed.

Staying in eagle form, she flew pass the wall going into the inner village of Haven and the row of tents outside it.  There was a large lake nearby.  She watched as soldiers drilled.  She tried to see who was leading them, but only managed to see the back of a blond head as he ducked into one of the tents.  She continued on until she spotted a raised, wooded area, and a small cabin.  She made sure no one would see her before she set down, transforming back into herself.  She found some elfroot and began chewing on a twig and collecting more.  Cassandra had given her a handful of healing potions, but she knew she would need more.  She didn’t know what for, although there was a Mage-Templar War going on.

The cabin was unlocked and she wandered in.  It seemed empty, yet she found some research notes and took them.  Why not?  They might come in handy.  She thought about staying in there awhile, she could hide out from the crazy townsfolk.  It was too much like being trapped in the Circle, though.

She crept out and started towards the lake.  It had seemed frozen over.  If not, she could freeze it herself.  It was one of the last lessons that Morrigan had taught her before the man in the blue box had taken her mentor away. She had improved her spells even more since then.  She could freeze anything with water in it.  She had begun playing with fire spells, but they didn’t come as naturally to her.

She’d barely stepped onto the frozen ice when a familiar voice stopped her.  “At least I know you didn’t freeze this lake.  I’m still trying to figure out how you managed to freeze the sea around the De Launcet’s little pleasure boat.”

“Ice magic,” Evelyn shrugged.

“It was salt water, Evie,” the other woman pointed out.

Evelyn raised her hand up and let little snowflakes dance in the air above it.  “I’m good.”

“Well of course you are,” Brenna answered.  “You’re a Trevelyan.”

Evelyn launched herself into her sister’s arms.  “Oh, Brenna.”  She held onto her tightly.  “I was afraid you’d been in the temple when it exploded.  You said you were going to Therinfal Redoubt, but might stop by the Conclave first.”

“I did decide to stop by the Conclave first,” Brenna confirmed.  “Luckily, I was in Haven.  I decided to let Fergus know my plans and when I planned to get to Highever so we could start planning the wedding.”

“Thank the Maker,” Evelyn was trying not to cry in relief.  She still feared for her other siblings.  “What about Brian?”

“As far as I know, he was in the Temple,” Brenna sniffed.  She wondered if she would ever feel complete again without her twin.  “There is no way to confirm who… was in there and who wasn’t.  All we could do was get a rudimentary list of the Chantry officials who were there.  “Evie… Charlotte… Charlotte was there.”

Evelyn felt her legs give out from under her and sat down.  “David?”

“He’s all right,” Brenna assured her.  “He went home to Ostwick.  We thought you were in the temple as well.  It was just him and I left,” the last was almost a whisper.

“I was in the temple,” Evelyn confirmed.  “I don’t remember what happened.  There was an explosion and I found myself in the Fade.  I only remember flashes of images from that.  Then I apparently stepped out and woke up in the chantry’s basement a few days later, with a seeker yelling at me.”

“You’re _her_!” Brenna actually gasped.  “You’re… the Herald of Andraste.”  A little smile lightened her face.  “My little sister is Andraste’s Chosen.  That’s so… neat.”

“An elf told me that is what everyone is calling me,” Evelyn admitted.  “Please, just keep calling me Evie.”  She tried changing the subject.  “Does your teyrn know you’re alive?”

Brenna nodded.  “I sent out a message and received word back yesterday that he is on his way here.  He was worried about me.”

“So was I,” Evelyn leaned her head against her sister’s shoulder.

The two sisters continued talking for another hour, before they were interrupted. 

“I know I left strict orders for you to meet me in the chantry,” Cassandra now stood behind her, having walked quietly up on the talking sisters.

“There were crazy villagers between the cottage and the chantry,” Evelyn informed her.  “I haven’t forgotten that one of them wants to boil me in oil.”

“You stopped the Breach from growing, now you’re their hero,” Cassandra explained.

“They’re awfully fickle,” Evelyn pointed out.  “I wasn’t going through that crowd alone.”

“I’ll escort her to the chantry,” Brenna offered.

“Thank you, Lieutenant Trevel…” The possibility of a familial connection had just occurred to Cassandra.  “Are you two related?”

Brenna threw her arms around Evelyn again.  “My baby sister’s the Herald of Andraste.  If Abigail were still alive, she’d be so jealous.”

“Meet me in the chantry in an hour,” Cassandra instructed.  “You can have your mighty Templar big sister protect you against the crazy villagers.”  Another thought occurred to her.  “How did you get pass them without them noticing you?” 

Evelyn shrugged.  “I used magic.”  She supposed some might be quelled by the disapproving look that Cassandra shot her way.

 

 

Brenna and Evelyn walked to the chantry together.  They could hear a couple of women in Chantry robes talking.  “Chancellor Rodrick says that the Chantry wants nothing to do with us,” one was saying.

“That isn’t Chancellor Rodrick’s decision,” the other pointed out.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go in there with me?” Evelyn looked at the doors with trepidation.  “I’m willing to bet coin that at least one of them will try and arrest me.”

“Fergus is already on his way here, if they try to take you to Val Royeaux we’ll come after you with all the might of the Trevelyans and Couslands,” Brenna promised.

“I’m so glad I still have you by my side,” Evelyn hugged her sister one last time and walked towards the doors at the far end of the chantry.  She could already hear raised voices.  One was Cassandra’s, the other was Rodrick.  Why were they still listening to that bootlicker?

“Have you gone completely mad?” Rodrick accused.  “She should be taken to Val Royeaux immediately to await her trial.”

“I heard the Most Holy call to her for help,” Cassandra informed him.  “She is innocent.”

“That’s for the Chantry to decide!”  He retorted.

“Because the Chantry has treated mages fairly in the past,” Leliana spoke up, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Evelyn squared her shoulders and opened the door.  She saw the three speakers in the room, there were also two guards, but no one else. 

“Chain her,” Rodrick ordered the guards.  “I want her taken to the capital immediately and prepared for trial.”

“Disregard that,” Cassandra commanded.  “And leave us.”

The guards saluted Cassandra and left.  At least they realized they shouldn’t be listening to a bootlicking cleric.

“You do know that we’re in Ferelden, so the capital would be Denerim, don’t you, Bootlicker?” Evelyn crossed her arms. 

“Don’t antagonize the chancellor further, please,” Leliana pleaded.  “At least not right now.”

Cassandra approached Rodrick.  “The Breach is stable, but it’s still a threat.  I will not ignore it.”

Evelyn ignored Rodrick and spoke to Cassandra.  “So I’m still a suspect?  Even after what I just did?”  Cassandra could be reasoned with, at least.           

“You _absolutely are_ ,” Rodrick proclaimed.

“No, she is not,” Cassandra countered.

Leliana rounded the table in front of her to stand before Rodrick as well.  “Someone was behind the explosion at the conclave, someone Most Holy did not expect.  Perhaps they died with the others,” he cocked her head a little and stepped even closer.  “Or have allies that yet live.”

“ _I_ am a suspect,” Rodrick lifted his arms up and his eyes widened.

“ _You_ ,” Leliana took delight in the word.  “And many others.”

“But not the prisoner?”  He glared at Evelyn.

“I heard the voices in the temple,” Cassandra reminded him.  “The Divine called to her for help.”

“So her survival, that _thing_ on her hand…” he crossed his arms.  “…all a coincidence?”

“Providence,” Cassandra declared.  “The Maker sent her to us in our darkest hour.”

“Though all before me is shadow, yet the Maker shall be my guide,” Evelyn quoted.

“We lost everything,” Cassandra’s eyes became watery.  “Then out of nowhere you came.”  She stepped away.

“The Breach remains,” Leliana continued.  “And the Mark is still our only hope of closing it.”

Rodrick uncrossed his arms.  “This is not for you to decide.”

Cassandra moved back in front of Rodrick and slammed a heavy tome onto the table.  “You know what this is, chancellor?”  She placed a finger on the book.  “A writ from the Divine granting us the authority to act.  As of this moment, I declare the Inquisition reborn!”  Rodrick backed up and Cassandra stalked him.  “We will close the Breach, we will find those responsible, and we will restore order with or without your approval.”

Rodrick looked at the women in the room and then stormed out.  Cassandra just through up a hand in ‘good riddance’.

Leliana moved to the book and addressed Evelyn.  “This is the Divine’s directive.  Rebuild the Inquisition of old; find those who will stand against the chaos.  We aren’t ready; we have no leader, no numbers, and now no Chantry support.”

“But we have no choice,” Cassandra added.  “We must act now.  With you at our side, Evie.”

As a major fan of history, Evelyn had heard of the Inquisition.  It had been established to restore order after the first Blight.  Unfortunately, when they’d decided their job as an Inquisition was done, they’d formed the Templar order.  As a mage, she didn’t think that was a good thing.  “If you are truly trying to restore order…”

“That is the plan,” Leliana confirmed.

“Help us fix this,” Cassandra held out a hand.  “Before it’s too late.”

Evelyn nodded and shook the hand.  She’d just have to make sure they didn’t end up making something worse than the Templars and Chantry.  “Let’s get to work.”


	23. Heavy Crowns and Inept Advisers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New of the Inquisition reaches Ferelden and Orlais

Leliana was busy the next few weeks; she sent birds to every ruler in southern Thedas and then went to Val Royeaux to ‘interview’ a friend for the position of Inquisition Ambassador.  The birds reached Val Royeaux and Denerim at about the same time.

 

 

“Shouldn’t we be worrying about the rifts, Your Imperial Highness?” Celene’s chief financial adviser questioned.  She was not happy at how the damned things were disrupting trade.

“Duke Gaspard is a bigger concern,” her chief military adviser countered.  “His men have us mired in the Exalted Dales.  The elves also have us confounded thanks to Briala.  They’re now calling her their ambassador and insist that you meet with her.”

“What do you think, Morrigan?” Celene turned to her Occult Adviser.  Morrigan had come to her after the Mage-Templar and Orlesian Civil Wars had broken out.  She’d just returned from escape from Gaspard’s trap in Halamshiral.  Gaspard had escaped, Ser Michel DeChevin who’d been her champion had broken with her after the disaster with the Dalish, and Briala had left her.  She was still heartbroken about Briala; she’d thought they were going to make up after their quarrel over the burning of the elven alienage in Halamshiral.  Instead, Briala had taken that ruby and seized control of the eluvians.  Morrigan’s appearance had been Maker sent.  She not only was a mage who was well versed in lore and the occult, but she was also even a Hero of the Fifth Blight; although Morrigan didn’t know that Celene knew that about her.

“While ‘tis true that Gaspard can not be ignored, neither can the rifts that are spewing demons at the people of Orlais,” Morrigan pointed out.  “Send an envoy to Gaspard and to Briala and ask them to come and speak with you.  You need Gaspard’s soldiers and Briala’s spies to help against whatever caused the rifts and whoever killed the Divine.”

“You don’t think it was the woman they caught inside the temple of Sacred Ashes?” Celene thought the Chantry should be capable of at least catching the Divine’s killer.

“The Herald of Andraste?”  Her Chief Military Adviser shook his head.  “She was sent to us by the Maker to close these rifts.  She would not have killed the Divine.”

“Seeker Pentaghast has declared her innocent,” the financial adviser announced.  “As has Sister Nightingale.  It is only the Chantry that believes her guilty.”

“Shouldn’t the Chantry be worried about ending the Mage-Templar war?”  Morrigan glared at the reverend mother who headed the chantry in Val Royeaux, who’d remained quiet the entire time.

“We are peaceful servants of the Maker,” the reverend mother protested.  “How are we supposed to stand between our former military arm and those who can command the forces of nature at will?”

“Your Imperial Highness,” Celene’s ladies-in-waiting walked in.  “There is a message from Haven.”

“Haven?”  Celene took the message.  “Have they discovered who killed the Divine?”

“Not exactly,” one of her ladies-in-waiting began.

“They have reformed the Inquisition,” another finished.

 

 

Alistair, the King of Ferelden, stared at his Chief Adviser across his large desk.  “Have you been chewing a bad batch of elfroot?”

“At least consider it Alistair,” Eamon urged.  “I know I had to reschedule my wedding, but I feel it time you scheduled yours.”

“I’m married,” Alistair held up his left hand, showing a golden ring. 

“Your wife has disappeared,” Eamon reminded him.  “It’s been well over a year since you last saw her.  Her note to you said that she would be back soon.  Soon has come and gone.”

“Obviously it was harder to find a cure for the Calling than she thought.”  That didn’t surprise Alistair.  He’d never heard of anyone being able to undo the Grey Warden Joining.  Then again, he’d never heard of anyone trying, either.  “The notes said she was with the Doctor.  I trust him to watch over her.”

“I have never met this Doctor of whom you speak and you have admitted that you haven’t seen him since Elissa went missing,” Eamon countered.  “They are likely both dead.  Stop putting your life on hold for them.”

“You don’t know either of them like I do,” Alistair assured him.  “Fergus is going to remarry soon.  If Elissa n… nev…”  He couldn’t even bring himself to say the words.  “If I don’t produce an heir, I’ll name his next child the future ruler of Ferelden.  The Couslands are the most powerful noble family in Ferelden and were long before I married Elissa.”

“Polyxena is still here,” he reminded him, referring to the Navarran princess.  “You two get along well.  You should at least consider proposing.”

“She is only here for two reasons,” Alistair pointed out.  “One is that she is friends with your fiancé and doesn’t want to leave before this big wedding she is planning… again, with your money, I might add.  The other is that with all of the rifts, it’s too dangerous for her to travel back alone.  I plan to send her back to Redcliffe with Isolde and let her find passage back to Navarra from there.  Is Isolde even going back to Redcliffe?  She seems happy staying in Denerim.  Little Rowan even has new friends here in the castle.”

“I…”  Eamon hated to admit how much he didn’t want either of them to go.  “She’s safer here, Your Majesty.  Rowan is my daughter and I don’t want her in the middle of a war.”

“That’s fair enough.”  Alistair’s head moved as his office door opened and Grainne walked in.  The spymaster to one look at Eamon and frowned. 

Grainne had been with the Couslands since before Rendon Howe’s attack on Highever near the beginning of the Fifth Blight.  She’d come to Denerim to serve Elissa and wasn’t happy with the former arl’s attempts to replace Elissa as queen.  Indeed, she had never liked Eamon nor had Elissa.  “Your Majesty, we have received word from Haven.  A bird delivered the message to us.”  She was indicating that it was an official word and not through Ferelden’s secret service.

“Haven?” Alistair’s brows knit.  He’d been there before during the Fifth Blight, with Elissa.  Maker, he missed her.  “Have cultists reestablished their foothold on that village and are worshipping dragons again?”

“Only in a manner of speaking,” Grainne explained.  “It seems that the Divine’s Left and Right Hands have reformed the Inquisition of old and proclaimed that they will restore order to the galaxy.”

“Good for them,” Alistair nodded. 

“Could they start in the Hinterlands?”  Eamon snarked.

“Could they start by finding our missing heroes?”  Alistair would prefer that.


	24. Good Times With Past Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neria meets up with old friends.

Neria Surana was stunned at how long it had taken her to get from the Storm Coast to Highever.  What should have been a one to two-day journey had taken weeks.  The rifts that had been appearing in the sky and spitting out demons was only partially to blame.  The big problem was the Grey Wardens who weren’t bright enough to question bad orders.  She’d had some on her tail the entire time.  There were dozens of them hunting her.  She kept telling herself she’d be all right once she reached Highever.

Things did improve immediately when she reached the town.  She no longer had to worry about being recognized, since most of the town’s folk recognized her.  She could see the castle in the distance.  That was a whole other worry.  She hadn’t seen Fergus since the tournament he hosted.  He’d hosted it to attract a potential new wife and attract one he had.  He’d started courting Bann Trevelyan’s second daughter.  And she’d taken up with the son of the most hated man in Highever.  It didn’t matter that Elissa Cousland-Theirin had killed Rendon Howe ten years before; he was still the most hated man in Highever.

Fergus and Nate had once been good friends, but that had all ended when Nate’s father had killed Fergus’, along with his mother, his wife, his son…   That friendship might never be repaired.

Still, it was to Fergus that she was now fleeing.  She’d have to face her feelings for him again.  No matter what was going on in Thedas, she couldn’t conceal them from herself.  She should be more worried about Nate in the hands of Clarel at the moment, and she was concerned, but there was just something more daunting about going back into that castle. Where else would she go for help, though?

She stopped by a preferred pub and couldn’t help but smile at the greetings she received.

“What brings our favorite mage here today?”  The barkeeper greeted her.  “I thought all of the Grey Wardens had disappeared.”

“They pretty much have,” she agreed.  “If any of them show up here, will you let me know?”

“Of course,” he smiled.

“We have one in here now,” Wallace walked to her, picked her up, and swung her around.  “I don’t think he’ll hurt you, though.  He doesn’t seem to like Wardens himself,” he indicated a family off at one of the back tables. 

The man he indicated was blonde, with his hair pulled back in a ponytail.  His wife sat beside him, her dark hair was braided back, mostly to keep the toddler on her lap from pulling it.   Her bright blue eyes had widened as she and Neria looked at each other.  She said something to her sister, a dark-haired buxom beauty, who had another toddler beside her.

“How?”  They were the last people Neria had expected to see there.

“I guess Highever has become a refuge to heroes,” Wallace shrugged.  “I’m sure Fergus would like to advertise that to get more trade coming in, but it isn’t exactly something one spreads around.”

“No, it isn’t,” she agreed.  “I guess I can just go see Fergus tomorrow.”

“Teyrn Fergus isn’t in Highever, my lady,” Wallace blanched.  “He left for Haven yesterday.  He took little Catie with him, so I doubt he’s planning to be back soon.”

“He’s joining the Inquisition?”  Neria had begun hearing rumors about the group as she neared the city.

“No,” he swallowed.  “Lady Brenna is there.  She had been planning to come to Highever, to begin planning their wedding when the… temple exploded.  They’re now… engaged, my lady.”

“Oh,” she felt her heart stop beating for a moment and pressed a hand to her chest.  Yet it felt as if it had dropped to her stomach and she bit her lip to try and fight the tears that welled in her eyes.  She reminded herself that she was with someone new, but that didn’t seem to help the pain in her chest or the tears that were slipping down her cheek.

She felt an arm go around her.  “What is it?”  Bethany Hawke drew her to her side.

Neria just shook her head.  Wallace, however, answered.  “I told her of Teyrn Fergus and Lady Brenna’s intended marriage.”

Bethany just put her arms around Neria.  “I know, sometimes love just sucks.  Sometimes you have to watch them go off with someone else, because society says that is what they’re supposed to do.”

“How did you…”  Neria hadn’t realized she and Fergus had been that obvious.

“I saw you two together in the TARDIS, remember?” Bethany smiled at the memory.  She’d begun missing the blue box.  She also missed her regular co-companion, Varric from what was now an alternate future.  She hoped it would become a future that no one would even dream of.  “Or they start hanging around the crazy Dalish wife of a would-be god and you just know that she now has her eyes set on him.  Or they’re totally hung up on their ex, who is married to someone else and just so not worthy of him.”

“What do you mean the crazy Dalish has her eyes set on him?  Wasn’t she trying to reset history to help her wacko husband?  I thought she’d succeeded, too,” Neria knew just who Bethany was referring to.  Elanna Lavellan, the Bride of Fen’Harel had stolen a time-traveling device from Captain Jack Harkness and changed history so Fen’Harel would succeed in tearing down the veil that separated the Fade from the waking world.  It had caused an apocalypse, which was future Varric’s reality.  A world where demons ran free and the nations of the Thedas had been destroyed.  It was why the Doctor had come and what he was slowly fixing.

“Come, sit with the rest of the family.”  Bethany took her to Marian and Anders.  Crystal, who was no longer the infant Neria remembered, but a two-year-old toddler, waved at them. 

Neria waved back at the little girl.  “She’s gotten bigger since the battle of Kirkwall.”

“She’s two now,” Bethany sighed.  “She hasn’t displayed signs of the terrible twos yet, but I know they’re coming.  I think she and Malcolm are waiting to double team us when he gets bigger.  Marian had him six months after the battle.  She and Anders thought Highever was a nice place to raise him.  The Couslands have always been more pro-mage than many noble families and the townsfolk seem to believe that rebellions are sometimes necessary.”

“Like when the Howes kill your teyrn and his family and take over?”  Neria recalled.  “I guess there were a few buildings destroyed in that… disagreement.”

Marian smiled at her as Anders pulled out a chair.  “It’s good to see old friends.  Now tell us what is going on with the Grey Wardens and why Anders was told he should be delighted that the Doctor cured him.”

“The Doctor cured you?”  Neria hadn’t realized that.  She knew he’d given something to Elissa and told her what was in it.

“He did, when he took Justice out of me,” Anders confirmed.  “That little detail does make the neighbors less twitchy.”

“It’s a good thing they know who the Doctor is,” Marian agreed.  “Which was just another reason for us to settle down here.”

“It all started after we killed Razikale, in the Western approach,” Neria began and then related her story.


	25. Dread Wolf Take Her!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fen'Harel gets more bad news.

**Dragon 9:45**

Fen’Harel looked up from his throne as his generals came in.  Valena and Merrill both looked decidedly nervous.  “Tell me you have some good news for me.  Have you found Elanna?”

“No, My Lord,” Merrill bowed.  “Time still seems to be in flux, so I am sure she is continuing to fight for you in the past.”

“What do you mean time is still in flux?”  Fen’Harel eyed the pair.  “What has happened now?”  He wondered if it were as bad as losing his top general, while his enemies gained one.  His had been killed in the past and theirs had been saved.  Loghain was gone and the blasted Hero of Ferelden had returned to life.  What now?  “Don’t tell me it’s the Champion.”

“The Champion of Kirkwall?” Valena snorted, however, Fen’Harel noticed that Merrill flinched and looked away.  What would she do if the Champion did return to life?  He knew that Merrill had been close friends with Marian Hawke and that Hawke had great influence over the blood mage.  If anyone could change Merrill’s mind or loyalties, it would have been Hawke.  He was still thankful that the Champion of Kirkwall had been left in the Fade by the foolish Inquisitor.  “Although… well…”

“Anders, My Lord,” Merrill spoke up.  “Anders is… back.”  _Alive_ was what she meant.  As with other matters, she seemed to be suffering a duality of memories.  On the one hand, she remembered Marian Hawke putting a blade in the man she loved and executing him because of his actions in Kirkwall.  She still remembered the tears that flowed down Hawke’s face and her friend staring at her bloodied hand as if she could not believe what it had done.  Yet she also saw Hawke throwing the knife viciously away and embracing her beloved Anders.  Of tearfully forgiving him, even as she berated him for not trusting her to have his back no matter what.  She was telling him that she would have supported him and wanted freedom for their people, too.

“Anders is alive?”  Fen’Harel considered the implications.  “Yes, you told me that already.  Remember?  It wasn’t that long ago.  Merrill says that he’s no threat without Hawke.  She also told me later that without both Hawke and Warden Surana, he’s less than half the man he used to be.  However, he is possessed by the Spirit of Justice; Justice could be a formidable ally.”

“I’ll have our people find this Anders and bring him to you,” Valena bowed.  “We will find a way to give Justice full control of the body.”

“That would be quite the magic trick,” Merrill smirked at her fellow mage.  “Justice is no longer part of Anders.  The Doctor separated them and… disposed of… Justice.  I don’t know what he did to him, but they are two separate beings again.”

“Find this Doctor, then,” Fen’Harel was tired of this man ruining his plans.  “Wait, did you just come in to tell me Anders was alive, which I knew as you told me already or was there another matter?”

“Well?”  Merrill looked over at Valena.

“You said to tell you if something strange happened to the Inquisitor,” Valena had thought a very unusual request, but would do anything her lord demanded.

“Yes, I recall.”  Fen’Harel hoped they weren’t going to tell him events at the Temple of Sacred Ashes had changed.  “Did Inquisitor Adaar regrow his hand?”

“Kaaras Adaar is a Tal Voshoth who has joined the forces against you, my lord,” Valena explained.  “The Inquisitor is a human mage named Evelyn Trevelyan.”

Fen’Harel stood rubbed his cheek, Evelyn Trevelyan had punched him there once.  She hit hard, too.  “Find that damnable Doctor!”


	26. Look Me Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor fights Vashta Narada.

**The Library-51 st Century A.D.**

The Vashta Nerada had taken over the library and Donna Noble had been saved.  She’d been saved to the library’s database that was.  She was luckier than most of the team who had come with Doctor River Song, an archeologist with a strange connection to the Doctor.  She knew secrets about him that no one should and had acted like they knew each other.  They were both time travelers whose timelines didn’t synch. 

Now, most of her team was dead, consumed by small carnivorous creatures that lived in the dark and hunted in huge packs.  He’d encountered them before. 

The man who had hired River, or rather thought he had, had revealed that the computer’s core was conscious.  It was created using the brain of a little girl whose body had failed.  His aunt was the computer core and she was scared.  He’d revealed it as the computer called for help.

“She is the computer,” Lux, the man who had thought he was in charge, explained.  “The main command node.  This is CAL.”

“CAL is a child!”  The Doctor was outraged.  “A child hooked up to a mainframe!  Why didn’t you tell me this?  I needed to know this!”

“Because she’s family!” Lux shouted back.  “CAL stands for Charlotte Abigail Lux.  She was my grandfather’s youngest daughter.  She was dying, so we built her a library and put her living mind inside.  And the moon to watch over her and all of human history to pass the time, any era to live in and any book to read.  She loved books more than anything and he gave her them all.  He asked only that she be left in peace, a secret, not a freak show.”

“So you weren’t protecting the patent,” the Doctor referred to Lux’s story of why he had brought an archeological team to the Library after it had shut down many years before.  “You were protecting her.”

“Hers was only a half-life, of course, but it’s forever.”  He caressed the computer that held the little girl’s face.

“And then the shadows came,” the Doctor added.

“The shadows,” the computer repeated in that little girl’s voice.  “I have to… I have to save…have to save…”

“And she saved them,” the Doctor deduced.  “She saved everyone in the library, folded them into her dreams and kept them safe.”

“Why didn’t she tell us?” Anita, the last of Lux’s and River’s team wondered.

“Because she’s forgotten,” the Doctor thought it obvious.  “She’s got over 4,000 living minds chatting away inside her head.  It must be like being, well… me.”

“So what do we do?” River demanded.

“Easy!”  The Doctor declared over an autodestruct countdown.  Of course, the girl in her fear had started an auto-destruct sequence.  He figured that’s what happened when a scared girl was also a data core.  “First we have to get the computer to reset to stop the countdown!  It will be difficult; Charlotte doesn’t have enough memory space left to make the transfer.”  He thought for a moment.  “Easy!  I’ll hook myself to the computer.  She can borrow my memory space.”

“Difficult!”  River ran to him.  “It will kill you stone dead.”

“Yeah, it’s easy to criticize,” he pulled out wires and started crossing them.

“It’ll burn out both your hearts,” River’s voice grew tense and pleading.  “And don’t think you’ll regenerate!”

“I’ll try my hardest not to die,” he promised.  “Honestly, it’s my main thing.”

“Doctor…”  River pleaded.

“It’s all right,” he insisted.  “This will work.  Shut up!  Now listen, you and Lux go back to the main library.  Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download.  And before you say anything else, professor, can I just mention in passing, as you’re here, shut up!”

River gasped at his audacity.  “I hate you sometimes!”

“I know,” the Doctor acknowledged.

River went to do as he asked.  “Mr. Lux, with me.  Anita, if he dies, I’ll kill him!”  The last part was directed at the Doctor, she leaned towards him for emphasis.  Then she grabbed Lux by the shirt and left.

“What about the Vashta Nerada?”  The thing in Anita’s suit asked.  The Doctor and the Vashta Nerada negotiated and the Vashta Nerada declined, moving to kill the Doctor.  “We are the Vashta Nerada and we do not negotiate.  We are not kind.” 

That was until he spoke again.  “And I’m the Doctor.  You’re the biggest library in the universe.  Look me up.” 

The creatures paused.  The Doctor watched as they backed up, for now.


	27. Seeking Haven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haven receives several more visitors and residents.

**Haven**

Evelyn Trevelyan had been busy for the first few weeks after the Inquisition had been formed.  She had sent out word to look for her missing siblings, both Charlotte and Brian remained unaccounted for.  She also met Harritt and they got to work making her a new staff and a new ensemble for when she went out into the field. 

She and the blacksmith spent some time designing their own schematic for a mage’s staff.  Both became excited by their little venture.  “I enjoy making weapons, but I haven’t really designed before,” Harritt admitted as they leaned over one of the designs together.  “Master Wade in Denerim is supposed to be an artisan with an anvil or any other median you give him.  I’ve always admired him, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be as good.”

“You will be,” Evelyn swore.  “You’re enjoying this too much to give up.”

“It helps when you are working with someone who has studied ancient weapons,” he smiled at her.  “It’s nice when your work is appreciated.  So I was thinking perhaps we use a dragon carrying a large emerald as the focus for your staff.”

“Where are we going to get a large emerald?”  She shook her head.  “Anything large would throw off the balance.  I want to focus my magic in battle, but I also want to be able to use it as a weapon, like a quarterstaff.  So the focus can’t be any heavier than the pointed stave at the end.”

“Something like this?”  He drew a staff with a pointed end that had a top that reminded her of a lamp post.  “Or something like this,” he drew what looked like a twisted tree branch that had captured a small stone at the top.  You’ll lose the end, but it should hold a nice balance.  It looks like you picked it from a tree in the Emerald Graves.”

“Or like something that just grew that way.  I like it,” she smiled at the second drawing. 

“Now you said that your specialty was ice magic,” he recalled.

“That’s correct,” she confirmed.  “Although, I should learn new styles if I’ll be going into combat.”

“Let’s start with obsidian for the first try,” he looked at the drawing.  “What if I also wove a vein of lyrium through it?  No, not on my first try.  Someday.”

“You’re really going to make this for me?”  She admired it again.

“Just bring me the materials and I’ll get it taken care of,” he promised.  “I would imagine that Lady Brenna’s fiancé could get it for you.”  Fergus had arrived the week before and he and Brenna had put their heads together to start planning the wedding. 

Evelyn had never seen her sister so happy and she wanted to be happy for her.  She wasn’t sure what was keeping her from being so.  At first, she’d wondered if she should tell her sister that there was something between the teyrn and a Warden Commander.  She liked Neria, but that wasn’t what stayed her tongue.  Whatever was there was truly over and the pair hadn’t even had contact with each other in over a year from the rumors she had heard.  Fergus was devoted to Brenna.  Perhaps it was just the large Breach in the sky that reminded her of the chaos filling Thedas. 

“If he can’t, I imagine Sister Nightingale could,” Harritt interrupted her thoughts.  “There doesn’t seem to be anything she can’t do.”

“Speaking of Sister Nightingale,” one of the Chantry sisters interrupted their conversation.  “She has just returned from Val Royeaux and decided that the Inquisition needs to have a little getting to know you.  She is demanding all key personnel meet in the tavern at dusk, where you will enjoy a dinner and meet and greet with those who have come to serve.  I have been ordered to tell the Commander as well and must find him now.”

“I haven’t even met the Commander,” Evelyn confided.  “He’s been out recruiting or meeting the new recruits every time I go by the soldiers' tents.  Leliana was supposed to be coming back with the ambassador that she insisted we need.”

“I guess you’ll meet them tonight,” Harritt pointed out.  “It’ll be interesting.  At least watching Seeker Pentaghast having to play nice will be.”

“You do have a point there,” she agreed.

 

 

Evelyn hadn’t been in the tavern until the meet and greet.  She hated to admit it, but she was still avoiding many of the town’s folks.  She hadn’t forgotten how they’d called for her head.  She walked in and was unimpressed.  She’d been to fine establishments and shitholes.  This was neither.  It was rather… dull, it lacked any personality.  There was a minstrel playing in the corner, but that was as charming as the place got.

“We’ll be with you in a moment,” the barmaid called.  “Sister Nightingale is using the tavern tonight, so we’re crowded.”

There was something familiar about the woman behind the bar.  It only took a few moments for Evelyn to remember where she’d seen her before.  “Just don’t get out the pot boiling oil that you were so keen on before.”

“I’m sorry what…”  Then the woman’s complexion grew even paler.  “You’re her… you remember…”

“Oh, you got here before I did,” Leliana briskly walked to Evelyn, a dark-haired woman in yellow and blue was behind her.  “I’d hoped to be the first to arrive.  Our other two guests of honor should be here shortly.  Evie, meet Josephine Montilyet.  She is the ambassador for the Inquisition.”

Evelyn nodded at her.  “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh, the pleasure is mine,” Josephine spoke in a distinct Antivan accent.  “To think that Andraste herself delivered you from the Fade.”

“That’s what everyone thinks,” Evelyn agreed.

“Josie will be taking care of our diplomatic relations and guests of importance,” Leliana announced.

“So anyone who is very wealthy or has an impressive title,” Evelyn nodded.  “Well, my sister is in Haven and planning her wedding.  I’ll let you know when my parents arrive so you may greet them with proper fanfare.”

“And your parents are…” Josephine seemed to be trying to calculate how important the Herald of Andraste’s parents were. 

“They’re Bann and Lady Trevelyan,” Evelyn supplied.

“Your father is a bann,” Josephine nodded, finding that acceptable.  “And your sister’s fiancé?”

“That would be Fergus Cousland, the Teyrn of Highever,” Evelyn informed her, getting a bit of pleasure as Josephine blanched and wrinkled her nose at Haven.  Obviously, she was not impressed with the village, either. 

“When will he be coming?”  She was trying to figure out how to build accommodations worthy of a teyrn in the cold, shambles of Haven.

“He arrived last week,” Evelyn announced.  “Should we have told someone he is coming?”

Josephine turned green.  “Where, what type of… condition… is his quarters in?”

“They’re worse than mine, but not by much,” Evelyn shrugged.  “He did lead the armies of Highever until his parents’ untimely demise and his sisters… adventures.  He has had rougher conditions.”  She now smiled and wanted to giggle at Josephine’s expression.  Things weren’t as bad as the ambassador seemed to think.  Fergus hadn’t complained once.

“Fergus is here?” Leliana looked out the door as if she could see him.  “He hasn’t mentioned his sister, has he?  Does he know where she is?”

“He doesn’t, she’s still missing,” Evelyn confirmed. 

“Come, let’s eat while we can,” Leliana’s voice had lost a bit of its friendliness.  Her worry was seeping through.  She led them to a table at the head of the bar. 

They had barely gotten their drinks when the last two members of their group arrived.  Neither of the new commander nor Cassandra was pretending as if they wanted to be there.  Evelyn’s eyes widened as she saw the commander who she was now sure had been avoiding her.  She knew him and had thought of him as a friend.  “Cullen.”

Cullen’s gold-hued eyes went to her, but his face was expressionless.  “Herald.”

He wouldn’t even call her by her name.  Her heart fell until she noticed the broach that held his cloak together.  She’d given it to him as a favor during the joust portion of the Highever Tournament.  “I haven’t seen you since before the chantry explosion in Kirkwall.”

“You know Commander Cullen?”  Cassandra was surprised.  “Good.”

“Cullen,” Leliana addressed him.  He didn’t respond.  “Cullen?”  She noticed that his gaze was still on Evie.

“What?”  He blinked.  “Oh, sorry.”

“This is Josephine, our ambassador,” she introduced the other woman.  “Josephine, this is Commander Cullen Rutherford, the head of our military.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Josephine nodded.  She was interested in how the Herald and Commander knew each other.

“And this is Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast, the Right Hand of the Divine,” Leliana continued.

“How do you do,” Josephine gave her a little curtsy.

The group settled to eat, with Josephine carrying most of the conversation.  She asked Evelyn about Ostwick and Cullen about the Inquisitions progress in building its military arm.

“We have a lot of new recruits, some of them even know what end of a sword to hold,” he reported.

Soon the townsfolk were coming to the table to say they’d talked to, and rubbed elbows, with the heads of the Inquisition.

“Knight Captain Cullen!”  Brenna sat down beside Evelyn.  Fergus sat beside her, with Catie on the other side.  The girl waved at Evelyn, they’d met during the Highever games and had Catie had eaten several meals with the Trevelyan Clan.  “What are you doing here?”

“I’m no longer a knight captain, lieutenant,” Cullen explained.  “I left the Order after helping to restore harmony in Kirkwall and became the Inquisition’s commander.”

“It’s captain now,” Brenna revealed.  “At least it was before the Temple of Sacred Ashes blew up.  I was lucky enough to be in Haven at the time.”

“What about Brian?” Cullen moved his gaze back to Evelyn.  “Is he still with the Order?  I can’t see him abandoning his post and going after mages.”  He had been avoiding Evelyn.  At first, he was trying to get his head around the rumor that she was a mage.  How could a mage be married to a Templar?  Then the implications of her being at the Temple of Sacred Ashes started sinking in.  Brian should have been with his wife, he suspected that meant his friend was dead.  The friend whose wife he’d had a crush on.  Maker, he was attracted to a mage.  Even now he had problems keeping his eyes off of her.

“Brian should have arrived at the Temple of Sacred Ashes the morning of the explosion,” Evelyn spoke up.

“His letters to me confirm the same thing,” Brenna concurred.  “We’ve sent out ravens and runners, every indication is that he was indeed in the temple.”

Cullen nodded and put both hands on the table, looking down.  So his friend was indeed dead.  It was one more death he could lay at the feet of the person responsible for the explosion, as soon as they figured out who it was.

“I’m sorry, I’ve never met you,” Josephine interrupted the conversation.

“I’m one of the Templars who wasn’t lucky enough to have been in the temple when it exploded, Brenna Trevelyan,” she introduced herself.  “I also happen to be the Herald of Andraste’s big sister.”

“That she is,” Evelyn smiled at her.

“Oh, are you the one engaged to a… teyrn…”  Josephine’s eyes slid to Fergus.  “You would be Fergus Cousland, the Teyrn of Highever are you not?”

“I am,” Fergus confirmed.  “Leliana could have told you that, we’ve met a few times.  I seem to remember you being banished from Ferelden.”  His sister hadn’t told him all of the details of her fight with Leliana, but he knew that it involved a big betrayal and of the fallout.

“Yes, well, there is an emergency, with a huge Breach in the sky and rifts that popped up everywhere,” Leliana pointed out.  “Besides, I couldn’t find Elissa to ask for the banishment to be revoked.  If you just tell me where she is, I’d be happy to do so.”

“I don’t know,” he admitted.  “She left a note saying she was going with the Doctor and would be back soon.  She never came back.  Eamon is trying to find Alistair a new queen.”

“And Alistair?” Leliana frowned.  She may have had a falling out with Elissa, one that she was greatly to blame for, but that didn’t mean she didn’t still love the friend she continued to hold as a sister.

“He isn’t going for it,” Fergus assured her.  “There has been a Navarran princess at court for months now, but she has become bosom buddies with Eamon’s fiancée and refuses to leave until they marry.”

“She thinks if she stays long enough, Alistair will finally notice her and she’ll have a shot at becoming queen,” Catie interjected.  She might be a pre-teen, but she was street smart and listened to the gossiping maids.  “The wedding just an excuse.  Now she says it’s also too dangerous to travel with all of the rifts.  Eamon has given up and has begun suggesting possible unions to dignitaries around Thedas without the king’s knowledge.”

“How do you know all of this?” Josephine was impressed.  “I didn’t know you had a daughter, Teyrn Cousland.”

“I don’t,” he confided.  “This is Cathasaigh Murchadha, she goes by Catie.  She’s a ward…”

“Oh,” Josephine still smiled at the girl.

“Of my sister, Queen Elissa,” he finished.  “She’s also the Teyrna of Gwaren.”

“Fergus is my mentor,” Catie explained.

Leliana studied the girl.  She’d seen her before, even then she’d noted that the child could have been Elissa and Alistair’s child and wondered if they had been planning to pass her off as such.  “You are also a skilled rogue, one with impressive pickpocketing skills, aren’t you?”

Catie flashed an angelic smile.  “Me?  What would give you that impression?”  She had, indeed, stolen sensitive documents from Leliana when Elissa had confronted her about telling the King and Queen of Ferelden’s secrets to the Divine.  The queen had purposely distracted the friend who’d broken her heart, while Catie had stolen sensitive documents from Leliana.  “True, I’m not an Orlesian Cheese Crumpet, but I spend most of my time learning to run a teyrn.”

“Elissa grew up learning to be a teyrn and was an impressive rogue as well,” Leliana pointed out.

“True, but she is not as good of a pickpocket as you,” Catie reminded her.  “She told me that herself when she was teaching me to…”

“Teaching you to what?”  Leliana pressed.

“To insult Orlesians,” Catie gave her a confused look.  “Didn’t you know that insulting Orlesians is a skilled Ferelden past time?”

“Really?” Evelyn interrupted the conversation.  “Can you insult them, Cullen?”  She noticed his brooding expression.  “Are you all right?”

“What?”  He put a hand on the back of his neck and rubbed.  “Fine.  Of course, I can insult Orlesians, I am Ferelden after all.  I have referred to them as the Biscuit Brained Blank Visages more than once.” 

Evelyn laughed.  “Blank visages?”

“The masks,” he waved his glove over his own face.  “Don’t you wonder why they are always trying to hide their faces?  I would hate to have you, for example, to always hide your beautiful face.  I mean… sorry, Herald.  I…”

“King Alistair calls them The Inferior Cheese Eating Monkeys,” Catie interjected.  “If he’s feeling particularly spiteful, he’ll remind them that they like invading everything to give a false sense of importance.”

“Could you teach me?” Evelyn looked from Cullen to Catie and then back at her handsome commander.

“Herald, I don’t think it would be wise for you to go around insulting our Orlesian allies,” Josephine objected.

“I really don’t think they’d realize she was doing so,” Cassandra assured her.  “Their egos wouldn’t comprehend it.”

“Leliana,” Josephine turned to her friend, hoping for help. 

Leliana was distracted, though, studying Catie.  She’d felt, and suspected, nothing when the documents had taken from her.  She was almost positive that Catie had done it.  She’d have someone look into the girl’s background.  She had no doubt that the girl was exactly who she claimed to be, but it would be so fun to further train someone that talented.  She blinked at Josephine for a moment.  Had she asked her a question?  “Yes?”

“We can’t have the Herald of Andraste learning to insult Orlesians,” Josephine repeated.  “You are an Orlesian, yourself.”

Leliana glanced at Elissa.  “She’s a Free Marcher, not a Ferelden, but it would probably help her survive in a Ferelden Court.  After all, it is a skill taught to all Ferelden noble children.”

“I’ll teach you,” Catie assured Evelyn.  “We can practice on Threnn, your quartermaster.  Did you know that she still supports Teyrn Loghain?  He left King Cailan to die and that’s after he was given my family’s teyrn by Cailan’s father, King Maric.  Maric didn’t bother to see if any heirs to the land were alive.  He just handed it over to his crazy friend.”

“I did know that,” Evelyn confirmed.  “She keeps swearing that the claims against him are false and that she knows because she was there.  Her opinions are why King Alistair sent her to us.”

“If she ever claimed those allegations were false in front of Elissa, I’m surprised she still has any of her teeth,” Fergus muttered.

Two of Cullen’s soldiers came to the table whispering something about trebuchets and calibrations, distracting him.  Then a timid maid came up to talk to Evelyn.

“Here we go,” Leliana grinned at Josephine.  “This is going to be fun.  Then we’ll be back to business tomorrow.”

 

 

Evelyn wondered why she was being summoned to the War Table once again, as she slugged towards the chantry the morning after the meet and greet.  Couldn’t she just be allowed to sleep in?  This was the third morning she’d been woken by a servant claiming she was needed at an important meeting.  The meetings had yet to be more important than her sleep.  She studied the Mark on her hand as she walked.  She thought that if she squinted just right it looked like a glowing eye.

“Does it trouble you?” Cassandra’s voice came from behind her, causing Evelyn to jump.

“Only when I laugh,” Evelyn assured her.

“Ha, ha,” Cassandra deadpanned.  “What’s important is that it stabilized the Breach.  “You’ve given us time.  And Solas believes a second attempt might succeed, provided the Mark has more power; the same level of power used to open the Breach in the first place.  That is no easy to come by.”

Evelyn shrugged.  “What harm could there be in powering up something we hardly understand.”

“Hold on to that sense of humor,” Cassandra advised as they continued to walk towards the makeshift war room. 

“There you are,” Cullen greeted her.  “I… I haven’t mentioned how glad I am that you survived the destruction of the Temple of Sacred Ashes and stopping the Breach.  I am… glad that is.”

“I’ve mentioned that you need more power to close the Breach,” Cassandra began.

“We need to go to the Rebel Mages for help,” Leliana insisted.

“And I still disagree,” Cullen countered.  “The Templars could serve just as well.”

Cassandra let out a deep sigh.  “We need power, Commander.  Enough power poured into that Mark…”

“Might destroy us all,” he cut her off.  “I don’t want to see Evie end up in pieces.  Templars could suppress the Breach, weaken it so…”

“Pure speculation,” Leliana interjected.

“ _I_ was a Templar,” Cullen reminded her.  “I know what they’re capable of.”

“Unfortunately, neither group will even speak to us yet,” Josephine reminded them.

“Have you tried Grand Enchanter Catalina of the former Ostwick Circle?”  Evelyn suggested.  “I went to the Conclave on her behalf.”

“You weren’t just there with Brian?” Cullen had thought that the reason for Lady Trevelyan’s presence.

“No, I was there as the representative for the Ostwick _mages_?”  Evelyn wondered why he thought she would have accompanied her brother to the Conclave.  If she hadn’t been attending, Brian might not have even been on his way there.  He should have been back in Ostwick with their father.  Part of her blamed herself for his death.

“I…”  Josephine hadn’t even considered consulting the Herald of Andraste on how to get through to the mages in Redcliffe.  “The Chantry has denounced the Inquisition and you specifically,” she pointed her quill at Evelyn.

“Well, that was quick,” Evelyn observed.  “I’ve never been denounced before.  Wow.  ‘Tis almost a compliment to be denounced by fools and zealots.”

Leliana blinked at how much the Herald of Andraste suddenly sounded like Morrigan.

“A few just still think you are guilty,” Josephine explained.  “That is not the entirety of it, though.  Some are calling you the Herald of Andraste and that frightens the Chantry.  The remaining clerics have declared it blasphemy and we heretics for harboring you.”

“Chancellor Rodrick’s doing, no doubt,” Cassandra declared.

“It limits our options,” Josephine pointed out.  “Approaching the mages or Templars for help is out of the question.”

“Too bad I don’t know where the Doctor is right now,” Evelyn sighed.

“Who?”  Josephine and Cassandra asked together.  Cullen put his hand to the back of his neck and Leliana thinned her lips and looked up.  Neither was going to explain the ancient wizard to their friends.

“I’ve heard the locals call me the Herald of Andraste, but how has this spread?”  Evelyn wondered.

“Word of how you stopped the Breach from growing has gotten out,” Leliana explained.  “The rumors now say you were sent to us by Andraste.  Even if we wanted to stop those rumors…”

“Which we do not,” Cassandra interjected.  “The Chantry is scared of you.”

“That’s quite the title isn’t it, Evie?” Cullen smiled.  “How do you feel about it?”

“It’s… a little unsettling,” she admitted.

Cullen chuckled.  “I’m sure the Chantry would agree.”

“People are desperate for a sign of hope,” Leliana added.  “For some, you’re that sign.”

“And to others, you are a symbol of everything that’s gone wrong,” Josephine explained.

“So if I wasn’t with the Inquisition…”  She would be happy to just go home right now.  She had fled with her fellow mages, but she supposed she could go move back in with her parents for a time.  Perhaps she could get her own place nearby.

“To be honest, they would have censored us no matter what,” Cullen assured her.

“And your _not_ being here isn’t an option,” Cassandra affirmed.

“There is something you can do,” Leliana assured her.  “A Chantry Cleric, by the name of Mother Gisselle, has asked to speak to you.  She is not far and knows those involved far better than I.  Her assistance could be invaluable.”

“Why would a Chantry Mother help a declared heretic?” Evelyn wondered.

“I understand she’s a reasonable sort,” Leliana clasped her hands behind her back.  “Perhaps she does not agree with her sisters.  You will find mother Gisselle tending to the wounded in the Hinterlands near Redcliffe.”

“You do know that the Hinterlands is where the Mage-Templar War is being waged,” Evelyn reminded them.  “This Mother Gisselle could be dead before we get there.”

“We’ve already sent in forces to try and stabilize the region,” Cullen assured her.  “She’ll be alive when you get there.  Don’t go in there unarmed, though, Evie.”

“I never am,” Evelyn assured him.  She wondered if he was still a bit in denial at realizing she was a mage.  She remembered that Brian used to try to hide Evelyn’s mage status from his friend.  She never had, however, and it was now a well-known fact.

“I’ll go with you,” Cassandra informed her.  “We’ll take Varric and Solas as well.”

“Can’t we leave Solas here?” Evelyn would never trust him; Morrigan had an ingrained distrust of bald elves into her too well.  She had told her that one day a bald elf would even try to destroy Thedas and that all of them had their own secret agendas.

“No.”  Cassandra led her away.


	28. River's End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> River and the Doctor save those in the library and the Doctor prepares to return to Thedas.

**The Library-51 st Century AD**

“Anita!”  River looked down at the remains of her friend.

“I’m sorry, she’s been dead for some time,” the Doctor revealed.  “I told you to go with Lux.

“He can manage without me,” River assured the Doctor, but you can’t.”  She punched him, knocking him clean out.

 

 

When the Doctor came to, River was sitting in the chair next to the computer and rewiring it.  He tried to get up, but found that he was handcuffed to the wall.  “Oh, no.  Come on, what are you doing?  That’s my job.”

“Oh, and I’m not allowed to have a career, I suppose?”  She countered.

“Why are my hands…?”  He yanked on the handcuffs.  “Why do you even have handcuffs?”

She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows.  “Spoilers.”

“This is not a joke,” he tried to get closer to her.  “Stop this now.  This is gonna kill you.  I have a chance, you don’t have any.”

“You wouldn’t have a chance and neither do I!”  She yelled at him.  She couldn’t tell him that she’d already given her remaining regenerations to him and he was _not_ going to waste them.  “I’m timing it for the end of the countdown.  There will be a blip in the command flow.  That way it should improve our chances of a clean download.  Then you need to get to Thedas.  I believe your companions want to be picked up from Mythal’s Temple and there is a megalomaniac who is about to destroy a civilization.”

“River, please, no,” he begged.

“The funny thing is, this means you’ve always known how I was going to die,” she thought back to some of their meetings.  Times that he had seemed afraid of inconsequential things.  “All the time we’ve been together, you knew I was coming here.  The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean…  You turned up on my doorstep with a new haircut and a suit.  You took me to Darillium to see the singing towers.  What a night that was,” a twenty-seven year night.  “The towers sang, and you cried.  You wouldn’t tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time.  My time.  Time to come to the library.  You even gave me your screwdriver.  That should have been a clue.”  She watched as he tried to grab one of the screwdrivers.  “There’s nothing you can do.”

“You can let me do this!”  He screamed.

“If you die here, it’ll mean I’ve never met you,” she cried.

“Time can be rewritten,” he pointed out.

“Not those times,” she would never give up those times for anything.  “Not one line.  Don’t you dare.  It’s okay.  It’s okay.  It’s not over for you.  You’ll see me again,” she assured him.  “Even right now, I’m waiting for you on Thedas.  You need to get back there.  You’ve got all of our future to come.  You and me.  Time and Space.  You watch us run.”

“River, you know my name,” he knew what that meant.  “You whispered my name in my ear.  There’s only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name.  There’s only one time I could.”

“Hush now,” She put a device on her head and then held glowing circuits just inches apart.  “Spoilers.”  As the countdown ended, she put the circuits together.

The Doctor was forced to look away.

 

 

As Lux celebrated the return of everyone who CAL had stored in the computer, the Doctor stared at an empty chair, tears running down his face.  That was until Donna found him and freed him.

They evacuated the people and then decided to leave River’s journal behind, not looking at the end, avoiding spoilers.  The Doctor set the Sonic Screwdriver, his Sonic Screwdriver that now somehow existed in the same time period on it.

He slowly walked away, up a small flight of stairs and towards the TARDIS.  “Come on, this way.  Next chapter.  I’m taking you to a planet filled with humans, elves, dwarves, and other creatures.  I left some unfinished business there.”

“Dragons?” Donna wondered.

“Oh, yeah,” the Doctor assured her.  “They’ve got High Dragons who carry off sheep and unwary travelers.”  Just as he reached the top of the stairs, he ran back down and grabbed the screwdriver.  “Why?  Why would I give her my screwdriver?  Why would I do that?  Future me had years to think about it.  All those years to think of a way to save her.  What he did was give her a screwdriver.  Why would I do that?”  He ripped off the casing and saw a glow underneath.  “Oh! Oh! Oh!”  There were five light areas, one was still lit and a second was blinking.  “Look at that!”  He turned to Donna who had joined him.  “I’m very good!”

“What have you done?” Donna wondered.

He held up the screwdriver.  “Saved her.”  He ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time and rushed to the computer.  “Stay with me!  You can do this!  Stay with me!  You and me, one last run.”  He found himself blocked by the central system.  “Sorry, River, short cut!”  He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the computer.

“Platform disabled,” the computer’s flat voice announced.

The Doctor jumped into the core.  He watched as the last light began to blink.  Oh, no, he wasn’t going to lose her.  He hit the ground and continued running.  Then he plugged the screwdriver into the computer.  Then he watched as River’s essence was uploaded and she was saved.

Then he walked through the wooden and marble halls of the library to his TARDIS.  River had reminded him that there were others waiting to be saved as well.


	29. Harding in Hightown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn visits the Hinterlands for the first time

**The Hinterlands**

Jeff had come to fight the mages who had dared to rebel against the might and authority of the Templars.  He’d known that every single one of them was secretly abominations all along and `needed to be wiped from all the lands of Thedas.  It was the only way he’d be safe, the only way _she’d_ be safe, his beloved Tori.  His thoughts drifted to her, but were rudely interrupted by two Maleficarum. 

One of the heinous mages threw a fireball at him and hit his companion, John.  Jeff raised his blade and felled the vile apostate.  Then he turned on the second Maleficarum.  She raised her staff against him.  He knew he had no reason to fear such a creature; he would smite her in the name of the Maker.  He took a step forward and stopped, there was an arrow embedded in his chest.  There was also one in the chest of the mage.  Together, they fell to the ground, dead.

Lace Harding, Scout of the Inquisition, smiled at her handiwork.  The path was now clear between the Inquisition camp and the Crossroads.  She returned to the camp to wait for the Herald of Andraste.

 

 

The Herald arrived several hours after Harding had cleared the camp.  She was a pretty human with tight curly golden blonde hair and green eyes.  She reminded Harding of a late spring day, it was almost ironic that she was reputed to be a talented ice mage.  She didn’t wear mage robes, though.  Rather she had on a battle coat and a leather hat with one side pinned up and a blue feather.

“Scout Harding I presume,” her voice was cultured; Harding had heard that the Herald of Andraste was the mage daughter of a bann.

“The Herald of Andraste, I’ve heard the stories,” Harding admitted.  “Everyone has.  We know what you did at the Breach.  We’re at your service here.  I, all of us, will do what we can to help.” 

Varric chuckled.  “Harding, huh?  Ever been to Kirkwall’s Hightown?”

Harding had no desire to go to Kirkwall _before_ it had been torn apart by the beginning of the Mage-Templar war.  “I can’t say I have.  Why?”

“You’d be Harding in…” Varric suddenly went silent, as if realizing something.  “No, never mind.”

Cassandra made a disgusted noise and rolled her eyes at the writer.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the Herald told her.  “Please, call me Evie.”

“We should get to business,” Harding couldn’t believe the Herald of Andraste had given her permission to use her nickname, not just her first name but her nickname.  That was so cool.  “The situation’s pretty… dire.  We originally came to secure horses from Redcliffe’s old horse master.  I grew up here and people always said that Dennett’s herds were the strongest and the fastest this side of the Frostbacks, but with the Mage-Templar fighting getting worse, we couldn’t get to Dennett.  Maker only knows if he’s even still alive.  Mother Gisselle’s at the Crossroads helping refugees and wounded.  Our latest reports say that the war’s spread there, too.  Corporal Vale and our men are doing what they can to help protect the people, but they won’t be able to hold out very long.  You best get going, no time to lose.”  She walked away, leaving the Herald… Evie… looking at her party and leaning on an impressively carved onyx staff.

“You heard the woman,”

The Hinterlands had obviously seen better days.  Evelyn’s team discovered an empty hut with a note from one sibling to another.  It was evident that one was a Templar and the other mage.  “It’s sad that the war is tearing apart families,” Solas shook his head.

“The Chantry tore apart families,” Evelyn countered.  “Why do you think so many became apostates?  It wasn’t just that we didn’t want to be locked up.  They tore children from the arms of their parents, from their brothers and sisters.  We couldn’t marry; we couldn’t even be guaranteed to stay with those we had come to love.  When a mage had a child, the Templars would tear the baby away from her, never to be seen again.  I can guarantee that half the children in any Chantry Orphanage were those of a mage who desperately wanted to keep them and those children were watched by the sisters for signs of magic.”

“What do you think happened to the rest?” Varric knew the Hawke family had hidden for fear of their mage children being discovered.  It wasn’t Marian’s father, Malcolm that made the family so afraid of being discovered.  It was a fear that the Templars would take Marian and Bethany.

“They likely became Templars,” Evelyn predicted.  “They wouldn’t even know they were hunting down their own family.  The Circles could not have been the will of the Maker and Andraste.”

“What did you expect the chantry to do then?” Cassandra demanded.  “The people were afraid of mages; they weren’t safe outside the circles.”

“The people were afraid, because the Chantry taught them to be afraid,” Evelyn countered.

“Such an organization has great influence on how the people think,” Solas agreed.

“I know that Meredith and Elthina stoked the fear of mages in Kirkwall,” Varric backed them up.

“They are feared, because…”  Cassandra was cut off as they reached the Crossroads.  Scout Harding wasn’t kidding, they were under siege.  A dozen Templars were descending on the refugees.  “We’re not Apostates!”  She yelled at them, but her yelling evidently did no good as the Templars didn’t even pause in their attack.

“I don’t think they care, Seeker,” Varric assured her.  He unholstered Bianca and took aim.  He hit one of the Templars, the bolt going through the army.  He then did a leaping shot, aiming for another.

Evelyn called upon a blizzard, aiming it at three Templars who were descending, while Solas created a barrier around the group.

Cassandra let out a war cry and charged at the attackers.

After twenty minutes, the Rogue Templars were dead, but they have soon followed by half a dozen Apostate Mages.  Two of those flew in the air, covered in ice as they hit an ice mine.  Another was felled by Cassandra’s sword after she burned out their mana.  Solas had now joined the fight and was aiming at his fellow Apostates with his staff.

The Apostate Mages were followed by six more Templars.  One got close to Evelyn, only to have his swing blocked by her staff.  She then twirled it and hit him dead in the center with the bottom.  The sharp end pierced his chest, as one of his companions behind him was felled by Bianca’s bolts.  Another fell to Cassandra’s sword.

It took almost an hour, but those who had been attacking the Crossroads lay dead on the ground. 

“I wonder if they have anything interesting,” Varric started rummaging their bodies.

“What?” Evelyn watched him.

“To quote a friend ‘If we kill them, we get to keep their stuff’,” Varric smiled at the memory of Isabela.  “Come on, Emerald.  I’ll teach you to loot.”

Cassandra made a disgusted noise as Varric showed Evelyn how to go through their dead opponent’s person and belongings.  They came back with plenty of cotton and some extra armor to sell.  “Are you two done?”

“For now,” Varric shrugged.

“Where is this Mother Gisselle?”  Evelyn looked around.

Cassandra pointed to a woman in full Chantry guard who was working among the wounded.  “There.”

Evelyn made her way to them.  She stopped as two Inquisition soldiers set down an Inquisition Banner by her and saluted.  She saluted back, but kept going.  She wondered if telling the Rogue Templars and Apostate Mages that the Crossroads was protected by the Inquisition would really keep them from attacking.  Mother Gisselle was talking to one of the wounded soldiers as she approached.

“There are mages here who can heal your wounds,” the reverend mother soothed.  “Lie still.”

“Don’t… don’t let them touch me, mother,” the soldier demanded.  That caused Evelyn to stop for a moment as she wondered how many mage-phobic soldiers were in the Inquisition’s army.  Did Cullen know?  He was a former Templar, maybe he was all right with it.  Well, she wasn’t.  “Their magic is…”

“Turned to a noble purpose, their magic is surely no more evil than your blade,” Mother Gisselle cut him off.

“What?”  The soldier coughed.

“Hush dear, boy,” Gisselle soothed.  “Allow them to ease your suffering.”

“Mother Gisselle,” Evelyn interrupted.

The reverend mother stood and turned to her.  “I am and you must be the one they’re calling the Herald of Andraste.”

“I keep asking them to just call me Evie,” she blanched.

Mother Gisselle giggled.  “We seldom have much say in our fate, I’m sad to say.  I know of the Chantry’s denouncement and I’m familiar with those behind it.  I won’t lie to you.  Some of them are grandstanding, hoping to increase their chances of becoming the new Divine.  Some are simply terrified, there were so many good people senselessly taken from us.”

“There were,” Evelyn leaned against her staff.  “I lost a brother and sister in that explosion.”

“So you understand,” Gisselle nodded.

“But don’t you stand with the rest of the Chantry?”  Evelyn wondered.  “With those who have denounced me?”

“With no Divine, we are each left to our own conscience,” Gisselle pointed out.  “And mine tells me this.  Go to them; convince the remaining clerics you are no demon to be feared.  They have heard only frightful tales of you.  Give them something else to believe.”           

“Do you think that will work?”  Evelyn shook her head.  “You think I can appeal to them?”  She’d seen the Champion of Kirkwall try to appeal to just one grand cleric and it was to no avail.

“If I thought you were incapable, I wouldn’t suggest it,” Mother Gisselle informed her.

“Will they even listen?” Evelyn wondered.

“Let me put it this way,” the reverend mother’s voice was gentle.    “You needn’t convince them all.  You just need to implant some doubt.  Their power is their unified voice.  Take that from them and you will receive the time you need.”

“It’s good of you to do this for us,” Evelyn gave her a soft smile.

Mother Gisselle studied her for a moment.  “I honestly don’t know if you’ve been touched by fate or sent to help us, but I hope.  Hope is what we need now.  The people will listen to your rallying call, as they will listen to no other.  You could build the Inquisition into a force that will deliver us or destroy us.  I will go to Haven and provide sister Leliana with the names of those in the Chantry who will be amenable to a gathering.  It is not much, but I will do whatever I can.”

Evelyn watched the reverend mother walk away.  Then she returned to the bigoted soldier.  “Herald?”  He blinked slowly up at her.

She laid a hand on his shoulder and whispered into his ear.  “A mage is touching you.”  Then she walked back to her friends.  She’d barely said two words to them before she had a refugee asking for her to find his son and get a potion from him.  Then a hunter wanted her help feeding the refugees and a soldier wanted her to go find supplies.  He kept going on about blankets.

She turned to Cassandra.  “I thought I was here to talk to a reverend mother and to find a way through to the horse master.”

Cassandra just shook her head.  “I…”  She couldn’t believe that the soldiers and refugees were expecting the Herald of Andraste to solve their every little problem either.

“I suggest we do something about the crazy Templars and Mages first,” Varric interjected.


	30. The Doctor is in Thedas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor arrives in Haven, but has other people he must go and gather.

Cullen rubbed the back of his neck as he read the reports.  He fought the need to run out to the Hinterlands to watch Evie’s back.  He’d ranted at Rylen for two hours about the Herald of Andraste putting herself in unnecessary danger after she’d found the base camp of the Rogue Templars and taken it with just herself and three others to destroy that base and the Templars within.  The tiny group had routed the Templars and extended the Inquisition’s hold past where half of the Mage-Templar war had rested their heads.

Now, as he read the newest reports, he listened to Mother Gisselle and Leliana discuss their plans.  The reverend mother had given Leliana a list of names of Chantry clerics who would be amenable to a meeting.  They had then started meetings about those in the Chantry who they believed would continue to oppose the Inquisition no matter what and what they could do with them.  He had a feeling that Leliana might be figuring out ways to poison each and every one of them.

“More bad news from the Hinterlands?” It took all of Cullen’s discipline not to jump at Rylen’s voice.

“We really haven’t received _any_ bad news from the Hinterlands,” Cullen admitted.  “That is unless you count the unusual numbers of bandits and bears.”

“So you won’t be yelling at me for anything the Herald has done?” Rylen moved cautiously.

“Maker’s balls, Rylen, she just attacked the Apostate Mage’s base camp,” Cullen vented.  “They were in a cave in the Witching Woods.  It was just a little group of four again.”

“She is a mage and had a seeker with her,” Rylen kept his voice soothing, not wanting to be on the end of the tongue lashing that Cullen obviously wanted to give to the Herald.  The Commander became a bit distraught if she stubbed a toe and often went on about her needlessly endangering herself.  “Does the report say anything else?  Do I need to go out and help get those watch towers built?”

“The watch towers were built over a week ago,” Cullen reminded him.  “She cleaned out the Apostate Mages, which she begs me to remember are not part of the Rebel Mages, but a crazy splinter group.  Now she is hunting down whoever is leading all of the bandits running around the Hinterlands.  She has reason to believe they aren’t run of the mill bandits.”

“I’m sure she’ll take more than just three other people with her this time,” Rylen soothed.  “Plus, they are now all on horseback.  I’m sure of it, because Master Dennett just arrived with his herd.”

“Master Dennett is here?” Cullen hadn’t been expecting him. 

“He says that one of the Inquisition’s agents, an Evelyn Trevelyan sent him,” Rylen explained.

“Evie not only got the horses sent to us, but convinced the horse master to come as well?” Cullen allowed himself a little smile.  She was something else. 

The two ex-Templars rushed out to meet the horse master and found him talking to a brunette man with hair that was styled to be artistically messy.  They were discussing the Teyrn of Highever’s horses.

“Oh, yeah, I know Gabi and Jasper,” the man stroked Gabi’s nose, to the horse’s delight.

“The mare seems to love you,” the horse master complimented him.

“It’s mutual,” the Doctor assured him.  “She is excited to be part of something so big, but not about the upcoming wedding.  She doesn’t approve of the teyrn’s fiancée.”  He stroked the horse again.  “That’s because you think he should be with Neria.  You’re right, he should.”

Cullen stopped and studied the man.  He knew him.  He had been at the Highever games and had given him some sage advice.  “Doctor?”

“Cullen!”  The Doctor threw open his arms and embraced him.  “Right where I wanted to find you.”

“You were looking for me?” Cullen was confused.

“Oh, no,” the Doctor waved him off.  “I was just checking up on the Inquisition before I go to pick up some friends.  Where’s your Evie?”

“My Evie?”  Cullen wished.  He did?  No, he reminded himself that he had more important things to do than moon after the Herald of Andraste.  Besides, she was the widow of a friend and he shouldn’t be having such thoughts about her.  “She’s not my… she is in the Hinterlands right now.  She is attacking forces of mages ten times her force’s size and herding druffalo for farmers who can’t seem to take care of their own herds.” 

“You know the Herald of Andraste?” Rylen was impressed.  “Evie is the Herald?”  He was catching on to that.

“We’ve met a few times,” the Doctor revealed.  “I’ll leave you to conference with Master Dennett.  He has a good group here.  However, don’t put that one,” he pointed to a black stallion.  “With an inexperienced soldier.  He doesn’t have time to suffer fools.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Dennett smiled and patted the stallion’s neck.

“Commander Cullen won the joust at the Highever Games,” the Doctor confided to the horse master.  “He knows what he is doing.  Give Maferath there to him.  Although, he prefers to be called Loki.”

 

 

The Herald of Andraste’s team arrived only a few hours behind the horse master.  The Herald, herself, took care of her own horse rather than hand her over to Dennett.  The horse bumped her shoulder affectionately as she rubbed her down.

“She likes you, Inquisition,” Dennett noted. 

“The feeling’s mutual,” she stroked the horse.  “Isn’t it, Snedronningen?”

Master Dennett blinked twice.  “Snedronningen?  She used to be called Princess.”  Snedronningen looked over at him and snorted and then blew air threw her nose while sticking out her tongue.

“Well, now she is called the Snow Queen,” the Doctor joined them.  “That is what Snedronningen means in Ander.  She finds it a fitting name.”  The horse neighed at him.  “She says it fits the companion of a mighty ice mage.”

“Doctor!”  Evelyn grinned at him.  “What are you doing here?  Have you joined the Inquisition?”

“The Doctor joins the Inquisition,” he grinned.  “It does have a nice ring to it.”

“Not if their anything like the Spanish one,” the redhead behind him snorted.  “They kept popping up and torturing people.”

“But no one ever expected them,” he grinned.  “I won’t be joining yet.  I was just stopping in to check up on you before going to collect a few friends.  The Hawkes haven’t shown up yet, have they?”

“Hawke?” Evelyn shook her head.

“Do you know where Marian Hawke is?”  Cassandra had been listening into the Herald’s conversation with the strange man.”

“Do you?” The redhead behind him challenged.  “Maybe she doesn’t want to be bothered right now, have you thought of that?  I heard all about what happened in Kirkwall.  ‘Champion, fight the Qunari for us’, ‘Champion hunt down the blood mages causing problems’, ‘Champion, solve the problems caused by some crazy Pope Lady hundreds of years ago’.  Perhaps you guys need to start solving your own problems.”

“Speaking of which, I need to go talk to a bunch of reverend mothers in Val Royeaux,” Evelyn commented.  “Do you have any advice for me, Doctor?”

“Val Royeaux?” The redhead asked.

“It’s the capital of Orlais,” the Doctor explained.  “Think France, but snootier.  Oh, Evie, this is Donna.  Donna, Evelyn Trevelyan.”

“Call me Evie,” Evelyn instructed.  “Please, don’t call me Herald.  My parents had six children and none of them were named Herald.  If there was a seventh they were going to be either Flynn or Fiona.”

“It’s good to meet you, Evie,” Donna nodded.  “Why do they keep calling you Herald?”

“It’s short for the Herald of Andraste,” Evelyn hoped someone had finally not heard the story.  “It started when the Temple of Sacred Ashes blew…”

“Evie,” Cullen was striding to confront her.

“Cullen,” Evelyn didn’t like his storm cloud expression and again wondered why he’d been keeping his distance from her.  Still, he was still wearing the broach she had given him.

“Is something wrong, Commander?” Cassandra intercepted him.

“Yes, you aren’t keeping the Herald from making dangerous decisions when she’s out in the field.  It was bad enough that she had to go into the middle of a war zone, but I’m getting reports of her taking out both the Rogue Templar and Apostate Mages with a small handful of people,” Cullen was not happy.

“Well it looks like she did all right for herself,” Donna observed.  “I don’t see any injuries on her.”

“I did fine,” Evelyn agreed.  “For that matter, I did better than fine.  Cassandra isn’t my babysitter, Cullen, and don’t talk like I’m not right here.”

“Herald, we need to talk,” Solas approached the gathering group.

“This isn’t about my refusal to turn on those strange globes that you swear strengthen the veil again, is it?” Evelyn had been warned by Morrigan, when she was twelve, that the orbs were dangerous and if a great portion of their network was turned on it would have dire circumstances.  She wasn’t going to do it.

“Yes, it is,” Solas huffed.  “You are being unreasonable.  There is nothing…”

“Solas!”  The Doctor threw out his arms.  “Solas, Solas, Solas!  At last, we meet!”

“Do I know you?” Solas studied him.

“Nah,” the Doctor shook his head.  “You were taking a long nap the last time I was here, big looong nap.  I think you woke up a bit cranky.  Perhaps you should try another one just as long.  You might be happier when you awaken.  Maybe you won’t share your toys with the wrong people.”

“I…” Solas took a step back.  “We’ll discuss this another time.”  He walked back towards his cabin.

“How did you do that…?”  Evelyn began to ask the Doctor when she noticed that Cullen was still hissing at Cassandra about her reckless behavior.  “I think I’ll go find Brenna.”

“She’s busy making wedding plans with Fergus,” the Doctor informed her.  “They’re in the tavern right now.  Fergus wants to have the wedding in Highever, but Brenna’s all for a small ceremony right here in Haven’s Chantry.  Tell him that the next time I see him, I should have his sister with me.”

“I will,” she went to hunt down her own sister.

 


	31. River's Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pair of Altus meet in a tavern, River's Song, to discuss troubling news.

**Minrathous, Tevinter**

_River’s Song_ was a tavern set between a wide, winding river and foothills.  It was clean and boasted a wonderful band, but catered to those called _the sleepers_ , those free citizens of Tevinter who were unable to wield magic.  They were considered the lower class, just a step up from the slaves.  Yet the tavern’s music, food, and alcohol were of such a high level that many of even members of the Magisterium were occasionally found there.

“Are you certain?” Maevaris nibbled on a piece of excellent bread, it was still warm and butter melted on it.

The mage across from her downed his third cup of wine.  “Positive.  He was going to use Blood Magic on me, Maev.  He wanted me to… well, he wanted me to be different and was going to force the matter.”

“Did he have a certain woman in mind this time or do you think he just wanted you to toe the line?” She patted her friend’s hand.

Her companion was a handsome man with dark hair and a curling mustache and goatee.  He was also impeccably dressed.  He held up his glass, signaling to a barmaid that he wanted another.  “Does it matter?  He probably has a woman with impeccable bloodlines, who would bore me silly all picked out for me.  Again.  Let’s not talk about it anymore.  I need to be more drunk before I decide what I’m going to do.  “Did you get any more news about the cult we’d heard rumors about?”

“I did get a break there,” Maevaris stood and signaled to someone.  “I ran into an old friend.”

“Hello, Dorian,” a man with close-cut dark hair, dressed in yellow stepped up to their table.

“Felix!”  Dorian embraced his good friend.  “I… I haven’t seen you since I had a falling out with your father.  OK, I have, but only once or twice and not out mingling.  How are you feeling?”

“I’m as well as can be expected.  He’s in trouble,” Felix pulled a chair up.  “And so is all of Thedas.  He’s gotten mixed up with the cult you were looking into.  I’m not sure exactly what they’re up to, but we’re traveling to Ferelden.”

“Ferelden, good heavens,” Dorian needed another drink.  “There is nothing there but Fereldans and their dogs.”

“I need your help,” Felix pleaded.

“Of course,” Dorian studied his friend.  “What do you need?”

As the two discussed, the tavern keeper stopped by.  “Give this to John Smith when you see him,” she handed the note to Felix. 

“What?”  Felix was confused.

“You’ll know, just don’t lose it,” she pranced off.


	32. You're Why I Fell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Herald of Andraste prepares to go to Val Royeaux.

**Haven**

Evelyn Trevelyan stared at the ambassador, commander, and spymaster across the table from her.  “I just got back from the Hinterlands a few days ago and you are telling me to grab my things and go to Val Royeaux?  The Val Royeaux in Orlais?”

“Is there another Val Royeaux?” Josephine wondered.

“If there was, I’d rather go there,” Evelyn declared.  “The one is Orlais is… full of Orlesians.”  She wrinkled her nose and adopted a bad Orlesian accent.  “’Dis one looks as if their poop doth stink, mine does not the elves I force to work for me for very little pay say so.  They also say the 200 phoenix feathers and fennec fur, harvested from 1000 fennecs, looks wonderful together as did the plaid and sea silk combination dress I wore yesterday.  Now I shall spend an hour in front of the mirror, making sure that my face looks perfect and then cover it up with this mask.  Oh, look, something shiny.”  She dropped the accent.  “I swear they secretly have some horrid skin affliction and that is why they all wear masks.  They’re trying to hide it.”

“Please don’t say that to their faces,” Josephine pleaded.

“How could I?” She shrugged.  “They’re wearing masks.”  She glanced at Cullen to see his shoulders were shaking. 

“Mother Gisselle has been working hard to find those reverend mothers who are willing to talk to you,” Leliana explained.  “They will be waiting for you in Val Royeaux.”

“Why don’t they just come here?” Evelyn questioned.

“The Chantry is headquartered in Val Royeaux,” Josephine reminded her. 

“Yes, I know,” Evelyn mentally rolled her eyes.  “My family is very devout.  It is also the city that Rodrick wanted me taken to in chains.  This feels like a trap.”

“She’s right,” Cullen’s fists clenched.  “Sending her to Val Royeaux is a horrible idea.  We’d be sending a lamb into a den of wolves.”

“That little lamb is more of a kitten,” Cassandra corrected.  “She looks sweet and cuddly, but she has teeth and claws and will take down an opponent like they were a ball of string.  I’ll go with her to watch her back.”

“Thank you,” Evelyn smiled at her.  “I appreciate it.  We’ll take Varric as well.  He can talk his way out of anything.”

“What about Solas?” Leliana prompted.

“He isn’t as good at talking his way out of problems,” Evelyn shook her head.

“I meant you should take him to Val Royeaux,” Leliana corrected.

“Do you really think taking a second apostate mage in there is really going to sooth feathers?”  Evelyn questioned.  “They’ve already denounced me, think what they will do if I bring in a bald elven apostate mage.”

“They have something against him being bald?” Josephine’s brow crinkled. 

“Possibly,” Evelyn pursed her lips.  “Is bald in or out of fashion this season?”

“She’s right,” Cullen backed her.  “I’ve seen a grand cleric go after someone because they thought they were unholy.  I’ll go with you instead, Evie.”

“Thank you,” she smiled at him.

“You have recruits to train,” Josephine protested.

“You can’t just leave and go to Val Royeaux,” Leliana agreed.

Evelyn thought of asking Brenna to go with her.  She wondered if the Teyrn of Highever would protest putting his fiancé in danger.  “I have someone who might work.  I guess I’ll leave tomorrow.”  She turned and walked away.

 

 

Just a few hours after meeting with the heads of the Inquisition, Evelyn had snuck off to wonder the outer reaches of Haven by herself.

“Brenna has agreed to come with me,” she told a ram who was walking along with her for some reason.  “Does having the Herald of Andraste’s sister in her inner circle look bad?”

The ram just stomped the ground once.  She wasn’t sure if that was a yes or a no. 

“I also can’t figure out Cullen.  I guess he’s just not into me the way I want him to be and I need to accept it and move on.  He’ll probably always think of me as Brian’s little sister.  He still wears my favor, though.   However, being Brian’s little sister is likely why he kept my broach.  Well, that and it’s a good broach.”

This time the ram didn’t answer at all.  She had made it to a ledge overlooking the frozen lake.  She used her magic to pull on the water in the lake and pulled.  More ice began to form on top of the ice.  She was trying to create a sculpture, but so far, she was just getting an interpretation of a mountain.  When no one reacted she realize she was truly alone, even the ram was wondering off.  It had been almost a year since she had transformed and didn’t want to get rusty.  The mentor who had taught her to do so, Morrigan, had stressed how much she needed to keep the ability secret.  Morrigan was the only other mage she’d ever seen do so. 

She stood at the edge of the outcropping, intending to take on her eagle form so she could fly away from Haven for a few hours and explore the mountains and rivers around them.  She took one step, beginning the transformation.

“Evie!”  Cullen was rushing towards her across the frozen lake.

Damn it!  She pulled back on her magic and lost her footing, sliding down rocks and onto the hard ice of the lake.  She quickly threw a barrier beneath her to try and cushion the fall.  She found herself lying on the ice, looking up at Cullen.  Her ankle _hurt_.

“What are you doing?”  He demanded.

She’d been trying to get a few hours of freedom was what she was doing.  “You broke my concentration,” she tried to get to her feet, but her ankle didn’t want to support her.

He scooped her up into his arms and looked at the nearby pile of ice.  “Why were you practicing on a cliff?  You looked like you were going to fall, that’s why I called out to you.”

“That’s why I fell,” she countered.

“Why did I not know you were a mage?”  He had met her a couple of years before.  Even before that, he’d seen her once in Bann Trevelyan’s company.

She slipped her arms around his neck as he carried her back to Haven.  “It isn’t a big secret.  I was a member of the Ostwick Circle.”

“That’s where you met your husband?”  He was still confused about that.  “Why would the Chantry let a Templar marry a Circle mage?”

“They wouldn’t,” she assured him, she appreciated how gently he was carrying her.  “Circle mages are forbidden to marry without a Divine Rit.  Even someone with a family as wealthy and devout as mine would have had a hard time getting it.  Although it did keep the twins and I close to our parents.”

“ _Our_ parents,” he repeated.  “Brian wasn’t your husband?”

“The Chantry really wouldn’t let a Circle Mage marry her own brother,” she assured him.

“Then, now that he’s gone, I can ask what the hell you were thinking in his place,” Cullen decided.

“You broke my concentration,” she reminded him.  “I would have been fine otherwise.”

He didn’t say anything, he just carried her all the way to Adan’s little clinic.  “It’s her ankle,” he reported.  “Perhaps more, she fell off a cliff; claimed she was concentrating on her magic.”

“I’ll be fine,” she protested.  “All I need is a healing potion and to stay off my leg for a few hours.”  She moved to get up and get a bottle herself, but stopped when Cullen sat and kept her on his lap when Adan began examining her. 

“It’s a sprain,” Adan reported.  “I believe the Herald’s diagnosis is correct.  You can let her go now, Commander.”

“I…”  Cullen’s hand went to the back of his neck and his cheeks pinked.  “Sorry, I hadn’t realized I was… well, I mean…”  He gently set her on a chair and stepped away.  “I’ll see you in the morning.”  He fled.

Andraste’s rejected knickers, Evelyn swore to herself.  Every time she thought Cullen did have feelings for her, he then confused her by stepping away or becoming cold.  She needed to get over the crush, or whatever it was, that she had on him.  She’d have a long talk with Brenna about it on the way to Val Royeaux.  Brenna was looking forward to doing some shopping while there.

 

 

Evelyn was shocked when her sister wasn’t the Templar who joined her small group the next morning.

“Shouldn’t you be training our troops, Commander,” Cassandra reminded him.

“I left Rylen in charge of them, they’ll be fine,” Cullen assured her.  “Lieutenant Brenna also assured me that she would help.  She said she’d wanted to do some shopping, but didn’t trust the Chantry around her baby sister.  It seems our Evie is not a fan of the Chantry and several of the clerics might know it.”

“What?”  Cassandra turned her steal gaze on Evelyn.  “What have you said about the Chantry in the past?”

“I believe in the Maker and Andraste,” the Herald explained.  “However, I never thought the Divine spoke to or for them.  No person who would throw thousands of the Maker’s children in a prison, because they were born with gifts that others were not could be speaking for our Creator.  I may have voiced this to some clerics and Templars in the past when they tried to twist Andraste’s words and use them as an excuse to enslave my people.  I also saw the chantry in Kirkwall before Anders blew it to the Abyss and back.  I met their grand cleric and I saw the way she interacted with her people.  I never saw her near the refugees the city still housed or those who lived in Lowtown and Darktown.  You can’t tell me that Grand Cleric Elthina was a servant of the Maker.”

Cassandra made a disgusted noise and turned to look, pointedly, in another direction.  She didn’t see Varric give Evelyn a thumb’s up.

Cullen had to admit that some of the things he’d seen in Kirkwall had shaken his own faith.  At least she still believed.  Now he truly had a vision of her, though, as the innocent lamb sent as Andraste’s Herald being led into the den of wolves that she seemed to believe the Chantry leadership was made up of.  “I’m going to make sure our Herald comes out of this in one piece.  You can worry about the clerics being pacified.”

“I’m not a pacifier,” Cassandra grumbled as they headed out.


	33. Raiders of the Lost Temple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Future Varric, along with Queen Elissa and Future Elanna explore Mythal's temple.

**Temple of Mythal**

**-2000 Ancient**

“A werewolf tossed me against a giant packing crate while I was trying to rescue a frightened young girl who'd been kidnapped by an evil witch and a drug lord,” Varric informed his companions as they crept along the corridors of the temple, trying vainly to look as if they belonged there.  All three of the trespassers were rogues; a dwarf, an elf, and a human.  Also accompanying them was Elissa’s pet mabari, Wolfsbane, who was the daughter of Dragonsbane the mabari who’d fought in the Fifth Blight.  They’d been dropped off by the Doctor and his TARDIS after leaving Kirkwall in Dragon 4:38.

“What is a drug lord?” Elanna hissed to him.

“They’re the worst type of smuggler,” Varric explained.  “They get lyrium to mages and Templars who use them against Templars and former Templars who are addicted to the Blue Chains.”

“The Blue Chains?” Elissa repeated.

“Yes,” Varric looked around a corner before continuing down a hall.  “The dwarf dust.”

The two women nodded, he meant lyrium.  Templars became addicted to the substance and consumed it until it took their memories.

“Who was the evil witch?” Elanna pressed.  She’d studied several witches while planning to jump back and time and aid events to help her husband, Fen’Harel, by changing the past.  Strangely, that journey had led to her being further back in time than she had ever planned and helping Fen’Harel’s enemies as they searched an ancient temple for ways to defeat him.  It was getting tangled with the Doctor and Varric had taken her on some unforeseen paths and had her doing things she never thought she would.  She smiled affectionately at Varric’s back.  It had also opened up possibilities she’d never imagined.  They were going to use the Doctor’s influence to save her people when they returned to the Age of the Inquisition.

“The evil witch?” Varric hesitated a moment.  He inclined his head in the direction that he recalled would lead him to the crypts thousands of years from then.  “Well… Have you ever met the Witch of the Wilds, Flemeth?”

“Yes, I have,” Elissa confirmed.  “She helped me at the beginning of the Fifth Blight.  I… met… her again during the Blight.  It was a matter that involved her daughter, Morrigan.”

“You did?” Varric had heard rumors, but they conflicted with events he’d witnessed himself.  “So was it really just a piece of herself that she had stored in the amulet that Hawke used to resurrect her?”

“Hawke resurrected her!”  Elissa looked around, hoping she hadn’t attracted unwanted attention.  Killing Flemeth hadn’t been easy the first time.  She’d almost felt that she was betraying someone who’d saved her from a horrible fate, but Morrigan was in danger.  Morrigan might be a difficult person most times, but she was also a good friend.  Elissa needed to protect her, now she was in danger again.

“She helped Marian to flee from Kirkwall for the favor,” Varric shrugged.  “You should have seen the Seeker’s face when I told her that part of Hawke’s story.  She didn’t believe me at first, which is to put things mildly.”  They reached what seemed to be a dead end, there was only the one door in or out. 

“It appears that there have been some renovations since you were last here,” Elanna observed.

“No, there haven’t been, Spitfire,” Varric felt along a wall until he found a hidden latch and pulled it.  A secret door swung open.  “After you, my ladies.” 

The small group descended into the catacombs.  Varric had remembered dust and bone shards from his previous visit to the temple.  Now there were fresher dead laying in the loculi, the recesses in the wall. 

“We’ll have more luck finding a way to defeat Fen’Harel in the library,” Elissa insisted.

“You expect to find weapons in the library?” Elanna raised an eyebrow.  “What do you expect to find in there?”

“Books,” Elissa answered.  “They’re some of the best weapons.”

“We’ll go to the library next, Queenie,” Varric promised.

“If we keep wondering around like halla in a field of embrium, we’re going to get caught,” Elanna warned.

“If we’re caught, it will be because you decided to not help us stop your beloved husband,” Elissa countered.

“That isn’t fair, Queenie,” Varric’s voice was firm.  “Spitfire wants to save her clan more than she wants to release demons through Thedas.”  He’d told Elanna of the future he came from, the one that resulted from her machinations to help Solas/Fen’Harel.  He wouldn’t call her reaction horrified, but there was definitely a part of her that regretted having a hand in that bleak future.  She’d told him her story in bit and pieces as they played cards together, along with impromptu musical duets.  He knew the only thing keeping her horror at bay was a dark substance that Solas had put in her shortly before she wed Chuckles.  He had yet to figure out how to get it out, but he would.

“I suggest you find a new nickname for your new girlfriend, Varric,” Elissa shook her head.  “Rendon Howe used to call me the Little Spitfire or Bryce Cousland’s Little Spitfire.”

Varric looked from Elanna to Elissa and back.  Despite everything Elanna had done to help her husband, the nickname fit the vengeful queen more.  “Good point.  Sorry, Dread Wife it is then.”

They silently crept along the catacombs for another half hour before they came upon a corpse that was covered by a large shield that reflected its surroundings.  It almost seemed to make the body under it invisible, the parts covered at least.  Elanna read an inscription over the body.  “This is the Shield of Athena.”

“Who’s Athena?” Varric interrupted.  “That isn’t the name of an elven god.”

“Maybe it was the name of our dead elf here,” Elissa suggested. 

“If you would stop interrupting me, I could also tell you that it says the shield can deflect any spell, even those cast by one of the Evanuris,” Elanna glared at them.

“That would come in handy against…” Elissa still did not trust Elanna to not be there to help Fen’Harel, and not to help them fight him.

“I’ll take it,” Varric slipped the shield into a large pack he was carrying.  “Let’s go and see if this Artemis was the only one buried with a magical weapon.”

“Do you take many girls to sift through dead bodies on your dates?” Elanna teased him.

“Date?”  Elissa glanced between the two of them.  “Does that mean I’m your chaperone?”

“Well…” Varric flushed, wondering if this could be counted as a date.  He did spend a lot of one on one time with Elanna lately.  In his time, Bianca was dead and gone, killed by the demons that were unleashed when Fen’Harel lowered the Veil.  However, he was also developing feelings for someone else.

“Come on, you two,” Elissa continued her way through the catacombs.  “It’s amazing to think that in our own time, these guys are just dust and bone.”  She noticed something else.  There was an amulet floating in the air above what seemed to be an empty shelf in the wall.  There was another inscription.  Alas, she barely read any elven, much less ancient eleven.  “Elanna?”

Elanna moved forward and began reading.  “Isn’t it lucky you have me here?  This says that Elmyra Sylsalor met a mysterious stranger in the middle of a beautiful green field years ago.  She appeared in a strange container of blue and gave her this.  The stranger appeared to be a Shem and the wildness of her hair emphasized that unruliness.  She gave Elmyra the Amulet of Hades, which renders its wearer completely invisible.  Elmyra became a priestess and spy for the Goddess Mythal, who used her powers to eavesdrop on her enemies.”

Elissa carefully reached out and undid the clasp of the amulet, as she lifted it away a body shimmered into view.  It had not been covered by an embroidered shroud as many of the others had been.  The body was openly decomposing.  “Eeew!  I guess they could only figure out where her body was enough to lay her to rest without all the…”

“Ceremony,” Varric supplied.  “I’m surprised we didn’t smell her before now.”

Wolfsbane sniffed at the body and then gave a little gag, turning away.

“I guess the amulet was masking that as well,” Elissa slipped the accessory into a pocket.  “Let’s go to the library.  I think we’re done here.”

 

 

“I can’t believe there really is a library in Mythal’s temple,” Elanna looked around at the shelves of books.

“What type of building wouldn’t have a library?” Elissa guffawed.  “Only the home of an uncivilized barbarian or an Orlesian would not have a library.”

“Even Hawke had one,” Varric agreed. 

“It would help if I understood ancient elven,” Elissa muttered.  She scanned the room and noticed a small gold box sitting on top of one of the shelves.  She opened it and discovered a pair of crystal runes.  They didn’t seem to do much, but when she looked through one of them, she noticed that the writing on one of the books changed.  Sure enough, as she moved her head, the writing continued to transform to common.  Somehow, the rune translated for her.  It would be a tedious process to translate a large tome with the runes, but it was better than nothing and at least she could examine the books.  She noticed one that was titled _Weapons of the Ancients_.  Ancients had ancients; it was a strange concept to wrap one’s head around.  She took the book, along with _The Rise of Arlathan, Potions and Poisons, Gods and Myths,_ and _The Spells and Arcane Practices of the Primordial Barbarians._  

“Do you mind if I borrow those, Queenie,” Varric gestured to the runes.

“No,” she shook her head and continued to look around.  “Don’t you hear that?”

“Hear what, Queenie?” Varric couldn’t sense anything.

“My hearing is better than yours,” Elanna pointed out and I only hear priests off somewhere in the distance.

Elissa ignored her, she wasn’t going to listen to the woman who had hired professional assassins to kill her when she was a baby and followed the sound.  She slipped into one of the long corridors the temple held and into a room several door downs.  “Oh, look at you two.”  She ran to a pair of cages.

In the cages were a pair of griffons, both were smaller than the descriptions of the creatures in stories that the trio had heard.  One of them put its head as far out of the cage as it could manage and cooed to her.  Elissa walked up to the creature, without fear, and laid her head against the creatures.  “Who put you in here, you beautiful thing.”

“Queenie, I’m amazed to see griffons, too,” Varric assured her.  “But we can’t waste time at Mythal’s petting zoo.  We’ll get caught.”

“They want out, Varric,” Elissa was sure of it.  She moved to the locks and began easily picking them.  “This won’t take long.”

“You don’t think that a pair of griffons wandering around would alert the priests that there is a trespasser in the temple?” Varric hissed.

Wolfsbane let out a little bark and was shushed by Elanna.

Elissa had one of the locks opened and moved to the other.  “I’m not going to leave them here.  Who knows what those priests are using them for?”  The other lock opened.

“We’re using them for breeding purposes; they’ll be fully grown and ready to breed in just a year’s time.  These two are obviously adolescents,” a priest announced from behind her.  His voice was condescending and his nose was a bit in the air.  “Griffon’s blood has wonderful healing properties and are useful in many powerful spells.”

“You aren’t going to use the blood of these two,” Elissa gracefully stood and turned, her chin raised.  “Nor will you do such things to their children.”

“Do you think you, a barbarian, can stop us?”  The priest snorted and then turned to her companions.  “Are you two going to control your pet?  How dare you bring her into our goddess’ temple in the first place?”

“She’s useful,” Elanna shrugged.

“Oh, shit,” Varric muttered at the same time.  He knew of Elissa’s temper and less than forgiving nature.  The priest was a dead man for the way he talked about, and likely treated, the griffons.  He was just adding wood to his own funeral pyre.

“Pet?”  Elissa gave him a faux sweet smile.  “I am a daughter of the House of Cousland.  I am nobody’s pet.  I am a hand of Ferelden and the Maker.”  The priest didn’t see the double swords that crossed to remove his head from his body.”

“You just killed one of Mythal’s priests!” Elanna’s jaw dropped.

“I’ve killed several of them myself,” Varric admitted, but that will be thousands of years from now.  “Just help me hide the body.”  He and Elanna dragged the priest away as the griffons gently nudged Elissa in thanks and trotted into the hallway.  Wolfsbane followed the griffons; Elissa called for her dog, but was ignored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my betas Eureka234 and


	34. Chantry, Templars, Seekers, and Other Bad Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn faces the Chantry

**Val Royeaux**

**Dragon 9:41**

 

The city of Val Royeaux seemed to gleam as marble reflected sunlight.  Eight awnings stretched over the central market place, providing a bit of protection from the sun to the finely dressed people who browsed the merchant’s wares.

“Remember to be civil with these reverend mothers, Evie,” Cassandra was saying.  “Many are just set in their ways.  They need persuading to even consider another point of view.”

“Are you telling me to be nice or reminding yourself?” Evelyn wondered.

“Both,” Cassandra admitted.  “As the Right Hand of the Divine, I dealt with them before, but they still test my patience.”

Music could be heard from the market, it was a jaunty tune.  Then the sound of bells over the music permeated the air.

“The city still mourns,” Cassandra declared.

“Are they mourning all of those killed at the Conclave or just the Divine?”  Evelyn wondered as they walked over the bridge into the city center.  On the other side of the bridge, the street was lined with religious statues.  Two overly dressed Orlesians in lacy masks and oversized hats over wimples walked by.  One looked at Evelyn and gasped, shrinking back.

Varric tsked at the woman and then turned to Cassandra.  “Just a guess, Seeker, but I think they all know who we are.”

“Your skills of observation never fail to impress me, Varric,” Cassandra deadpanned.

“These people have no reason to fear the Inquisition,” Cullen’s objected.  “What is the Chantry filling their heads with?  This is Rodrick’s doing.  I wish I could… when I see him again…” He clenched a fist.

“Don’t let him get to you, Curly,” Varric soothed.  “I’ll send a to Kirkwall for one of Aveline’s Don’t Signs.  You can hit him with it.”

One of Leliana’s scouts, at least they were dressed like one of Leliana’s scouts, came running to them.  She genuflected in front of Evelyn.  “My Lady Herald.”

“You’re one of Leliana’s people,” Cassandra stated the obvious.  “What have you found?”

“The Chantry Mothers await you, but… so do a great many Templars,” the scout reported.

“There are Templars here?” Cullen spoke before Cassandra could.

“People seem to think the Templars will protect them from… the Inquisition,” the Scout explained.  “They’re gathering on the other side of the market.  I think that’s where the Templars intend to meet you.”

“There is only one thing to do then,” Cassandra began walking forward.

“I was hoping she would say that it was to forget the Chantry and move the Inquisition to the Free Marches,” Evelyn confided to Cullen and Varric.   “Or perhaps go find Anders and let him just blow up the entire market place.”

“He wouldn’t destroy the whole market,” Varric disagreed as they followed Cassandra.  “Perhaps Justice would have if they were charging too much or stiffing their customers, but the Doctor dropped him on some remote planet full of peaceful sea creatures.  Maybe he’d rain down his manifesto onto the market and argue with the Templars about mage freedoms.”

“I can argue about mage freedoms, I don’t need Anders for that,” Evelyn stopped and began studying all of the statues.  “This does support our theory that it’s a trap.”

“I won’t let any of them hurt you, Evie,” Cullen promised.  “That’s why I’m here, remember?  I think it’s a trap, too.”

She turned back and smiled at him.  “I know.  Thank you.  I had less reason than some to fear Templars while in the Circle.  Brian and Brenna were there to look out for me and my family donated a lot of money to the Ostwick Chantry, to ensure my… comfort.”

“Your family bribed the Circle!”  Cullen’s eyes widened.  After everything else that had come to light, he shouldn’t be shocked to realize that the Templars were taking bribes.  He was further disheartened, though.  The Order was far from what it could have been.

“They did,” she confirmed.  “Ostwick wasn’t a bad Circle, either.  It was nothing compared to what I saw in Kirkwall or the rumors coming out of the White Spire right here in Val Royeaux.”  She looked over at Cassandra who was trying to urge them along.  “I’ve heard that the Seekers made matters even worse when they came to solve a series of murders here.”

Cassandra wasn’t sure what had happened at the White Spire, but knew that whatever it was it had contributed to the mages rebelling.  In the end, war had started and Lord Seeker Lambert had been killed.  “The killer was never identified, either,” she admitted. She stopped a second when a guard stepped in front of her.

“Let them be,” another guard pulled him away.  “The Templars will deal with them.”

“Do they think to stop us?” Evelyn wondered.  “We have come peacefully and caused no problems… yet.  Nice city, the guards apparently like to harass those from out of town.”

As they reached the other side of the market, they saw a large crowd gathered around a makeshift platform.  A chantry mother stood in the middle of it.  She was flanked by two clerics and a Templar.  “Good people of Val Royeaux, hear me!”  She was demanding.  “Together we mourn our Divine.  Her naïve and beautiful heart was silenced by treachery.”

“What about everyone else at the Chantry?” Evelyn wondered.  “Do they not mourn them, too?”

“Apparently not, Emerald,” Varric concurred.

The reverend mother didn’t respond to the question, but went on with her impromptu little speech.              “You wonder what will become of her murderer.  Well, wonder no more!”  She paused, letting the crowd murmur amongst themselves for a second, letting their anger rise.  “Behold the so-called Herald of Andraste, claiming to rise where our Beloved fell!  We say this is a false prophet!  An evil mage sent to subvert the Maker’s word!”

Evelyn wasn’t going to remain silent as she was accused of murder by a falsely pious fear mongerer.  “And do you know everything the Maker commands?”  She challenged.  “Lookup in the sky.  Do you not see that big green tear in it?  Are you blind to all but your own hate?  I alone survived the Breach, by the Maker’s will alone, and I can end this!”

“It’s true,” Cassandra backed her up.  “The Inquisition seeks only to end this madness before it’s too late.”

“Templars, mages, Chantry folk, the good people of Thedas, they all need to unite with us against the chaos that has erupted across this land,” Cullen added.  “It is time to set aside our fears of each other and unite together.”

“It is already too late and the Chantry and the good people of Thedas have reunited with the Templars!”  The reverend mother pointed to where a group of Templars were marching forward, led by a Lord Seeker.  “We are united against apostates and heretics like the Inquisition.  The Templars will face this ‘Inquisition’ and the people will be safe once more!”

The Lord Seeker led his men onto the raised platform and walked past the reverend mother without even looking at her.  The Templar behind him punched the old woman in the side of the head, knocking her out.”

One of the clerics held out their hands in shock and surrender as the gathered crowd gasped and then began murmuring.  The Templars who had been beside her took a step towards the prone figure.

“Still yourself,” the Lord Seeker stepped in front of the Templar.    “She is beneath us.”

“So now the Order is punching old women,” Cullen bemoaned.  Then he turned to the Templars.  “We are better than this.  You are all better than this.”

“So you aren’t here for me?”  Evelyn challenged the Lord Seeker.  “You aren’t here to _deal_ with the Inquisition.”

The Lord Seeker sneered at her.  “As if there were any reason to.”  He stepped off the platform.

“Lord Seeker Lucius,” Cassandra knew him.  “It’s imperative that we speak with…”

“You will not address me,” Lucius demanded.

“Lord Seeker?” The hurt and concern in Cassandra’s voice was thinly veiled.

“Creating a heretical movement, raising up a puppet as Andraste’s prophet,” the Lord Seeker derided.  “You should be ashamed.  You should all be ashamed!  The Templars failed nobody when they left the Chantry to purge the mages!”  He raised an accusing finger at Evelyn.  “You are the ones who have failed, you who’d leash our righteous swords with doubt and fear!”

“Templars!”  Cullen’s voice rang out.  “I am Cullen Rutherford, former Knight Commander of Kirkwall.  I was one of you!  I know what loyalty means to you.  That devotion to loyalty and the Order is what kept me from realizing that I was following a sick commander for years, one who’d let her own hate and fears warp her mind and pervert her purposes.  Do not repeat my mistakes.  Lord Seeker Lucius is not doing the Maker’s work and neither are you if you follow him.  You must choose.  Choose whether you will blindly follow your leaders into chaos and ruin or if you will serve the Maker.  This woman beside me _is_ the Herald of Andraste.  Yes, she is a mage, but she is from a devout family.  Perhaps Andraste and the Maker chose a mage as Andraste’s herald to remind us that most mages are good people who wish only to use their powers for good.  I was at Kinloch Hold and Kirkwall when the chantry was destroyed; I’ve seen mages at the worse.  I have also seen a Knight Commander use her position to try to wrestle control of a city.  I’ve seen mages who passed their Harrowing made Tranquil to assuage a Knight Commander’s fears.  I have heard rumors of Templars who prey upon the mages in their care.  I have chosen to help lead the Inquisition, to make Thedas a better place.  Open your eyes and look into your hearts.  Join us!  Join us in restoring peace and order to Thedas!”

“You are a traitor!”  Lucius spat at him.  “You have turned against the righteous and chosen heresy, as you uphold one of the unholy.”

“It is you who are betraying all that the Order was meant to be,” Cullen countered.  “It isn’t too late to turn back to the true intentions of the Templar Order and restore it to its true purpose.”

“If you came to appeal to the Chantry, you are too late,” Lucius declared.  “The only destiny that demands respect is mine.”

“ _The only destiny that demands respect is mine?_ ”  Evelyn repeated.  “Templars, do you not hear how crazed your leader sounds?  Not only does Cullen command the Inquisition’s forces, but other Templars have also already joined.  His second in command was a Templar as well.  Knight Lieutenant Brenna Trevelyan, the betrothed of Teyrn Cousland fights with us.  Join them, join us.”

“I didn’t know that you knew Rylan was a Templar,” Cullen whispered to her.

“Brenna recognized him,” Evelyn admitted.  “She has been sent on a few missions to Starkhaven.”

“I swear that you will be treated with respect and will find contentment in working for the Maker once more,” Cullen swore to the Templars.

Lucius turned on Evelyn.  “You’re a mage!  Your ties are worthless.  They’re all made traitors by being in your company.”

“Way to love your neighbor and fellow Andrastians there, Lord Seeker Looniness,” Varric muttered.  “We’re not the ones going around punching old women.”

“But Lord Seeker,” the Templar who’d been standing beside the reverend mother protested.  “What if she really was sent by the Maker?  What if…?”

“You’re called to a higher purpose!”  The Templar who’d punched the reverend mother reprimanded the doubter.  “Do not question!”

“ _I_ will make the Templar Order a power that stands alone against the Void,” Lucius swore.  “ _We_ deserve recognition, independence!”  The Templars saluted at his declaration, even as he turned on Evelyn once again.  “You have shown me nothing, and the Inquisition… less than nothing.”

“Oh, you want me to show you something?”  Evelyn raised her chin.  “How about an icicle up your butt, maybe it will help to dislodge the stick.”

“Evie,” Cullen placed a calming hand on her shoulder, as Cassandra made a disgusted sound.

“Templars,” the Lord Seeker commanded his people.  “Val Royeaux is unworthy of our protection!  We march!”

“Charming fellow, isn’t he?” Varric watched them leave.

“Has Lord Seeker Lucius gone mad?” Cassandra wondered.

“You know the crazy psychopath?” Evelyn inquired.

“He took over the Seekers of Truth two years ago, after Lord Seeker Lambert’s death,” Cassandra explained.  “He was always a decent man, never given to ambition or grandstanding.  This is very bizarre.”

“Well, it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting the Templars help,” Evelyn commented.

“Now, let’s not give up on them yet,” Cullen objected.  “This group seems entranced by the Lord Seeker, but that doesn’t mean that the rest won’t be reasonable.”

“I agree with Cullen,” Cassandra backed him.  “I wouldn’t write them off so quickly.  There must be those in the order who see what he’s become.  Either way, we should return to Haven and tell Leliana and Josephine what has happened.”

Evelyn walked to the platform and sat down on it.  She looked over at the clerics.  “How is she?”

The reverend mother tried to get to her feet, but only managed to half sit up; her hand was still on the ground in an attempt to support herself.  “We don’t need your help.”

“I came here to talk, you were the one who was making grand speeches and dealing with Seekers who have apparently been taking crazy potions,” Evelyn pointed out.

“And you had no part in forcing our hand?  Do not delude yourself,” the reverend mother tried to snort, but began coughing instead.

“No, I don’t believe we did,” Evelyn cocked her head.  “I don’t believe ‘we want to talk’ in any way translates to, you’d better get your Templars to come back and protect you from one mage, a seeker, and ex-Templar, and Thedas’ greatest storyteller.”

“And now we have been shown up by our own Templars,” the reverend mother was trying to hide her weak tremors.  “In front of everyone.”

“Yes, yes you have,” Evelyn agreed.  “That’s why you can now apparently not stand.  Do you not have any healers around?”

“All of the healers rebelled and are fighting the Templars in the Hinterlands,” one of the clerics admitted.

“Actually, I cleared out the fighting there,” Evelyn informed them.  “The Free Mages are holed up in Redcliffe, but the fighting in the Hinterlands has stopped.  Why do you fight against us so vehemently?”

“For _you_ to be true, a great many things must be false.” The Grand cleric stated.  It was only now that Evelyn realized she was a grand cleric and not a reverend mother.  “And if you are false, a great many things must have failed.  There’s chaos ahead, whatever your intentions.”

“Chaos is upon us now,” Evelyn pointed out.  “That’s why the Inquisition is needed.  Where might the Lord Seeker be taking the Templars?”

“I can’t begin to guess the Lord Seeker’s mind,” she admitted.  “He could not have abandoned his role more completely. 

“There must be some sense to it that we can’t see,” Cassandra came and stood beside them.

“Must there?”  The grand cleric wondered.  “Rebellion seems popular in some quarters, doesn’t it, Seeker?  Is crafting the Templars into a new power any worse than declaring a rival to the Chantry itself?”

“Divine Justinia had already begun to form the Inquisition,” Cullen sat down beside Evelyn.  “We do not have to be a rival to the Chantry.  We can ally together.”

“No, we can not,” the cleric insisted. 

“How many Templars does the Chantry still have,” Cullen pressed.  If there were enough, they could still bargain for their help against the Breach.

The grand cleric pushed herself to her legs and let out a weak chuckle.  “They rebelled across Thedas.  Some left, as you did, Ser Cullen.  Some remained loyal, but not enough to call them ‘the Order’.  The White Spire now stands empty and it was the largest garrison.”

“It was also the one place that had more abuses against mages than the Gallows,” Evelyn pointed out.

“Evie,” Cullen didn’t want her picking a new fight with the clerics.

She stood.  “We’re in Val Royeaux, I’m going shopping.  Come and find me when you two are done licking her wounds.”


	35. Arrow in the Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn finds a new recruit.

“Who is the man who lives live here?” Varric questioned as he followed Evelyn into a chateau.

“I don’t know,” she admitted.  “The note just said we should look into him.”  She dodged the fireball that was hurled at her as she walked through the chateau, that had been unexpected.

“Herald of Andraste,” the mage greeted her with a thick Orlesian accent.  “How much did you expend to discover me?  It must have weakened the Inquisition immeasurably!”

“I don’t know who you are,” she turned to her companions.  “Do any of you know this guy?  He’s obviously a mage, even if his fireballs are laughable.”

“I’ve never seen him before,” Varric shook his head.

“Not a clue,” Cullen shrugged.

“He seems to think he’s important,” Cassandra considered him for a moment.  “I have no idea who he is, though.”

“He did recognize me as the Herald of Andraste,” Evelyn considered.  “Is he stalking me?  He recognized me on sight, but I’ve never seen him.  It’s rather creepy.”

“You don’t fool me,” their opponent put his hands on his hips and turned as if playing for an audience at a boring opera.  “I’m too important for this to be an accident!  My efforts will survive in victories against you elsewhere!”

There was a scream and a guard who had been standing in a back corner dropped dead.  A blonde elf pointed an arrow at Evelyn’s stalker, as she now thought of him.  “Just say ‘what’!”

He turned on her.  “What is the…” The arrow was released and he fell to the ground, lifeless.

            The elf made a disgusted noise.  “Squishy one, but you heard me, right?  ‘Just say what’.  Rich tits always try for more than they deserve. ‘Blah, blah, blah’, arrow in the face.”

Evelyn went to the body and removed the mask.  “I still don’t know who he is.  This is just disturbing.  Strangers know who I am and I have no clue who they are.  It’s called privacy, people, I’d like some.”

            The elf scooched down beside her.  “You followed the notes well enough.   Glad to see you’re… kind of plain really.  All that talk and you’re just a person.  I mean it’s all good, isn’t it?  The important thing is you glow.  You’re the Herald thingy.”

            “See?”  Evelyn turned to her companions and pointed at the newcomer.  “This is really giving me the willies.  I’ve never met this woman before, yet she knows who I am… and she thinks I glow.”

            “I have people, they described you to me,” the elf assured her.

            “Now I have peoples spying on me,” Evelyn stood and took a step back.  Cullen and Cassandra moved forward, almost in unison, to flank her.  “Who are you and what is this about?”

            “I didn’t know this idiot from the Queen of Antiva,” the elven archer shrugged.  “My people just said the Inquisition should look at him.”

            “Who exactly are these people you talk about?” Evelyn really wanted to know what was going on.  She also remembered Morrigan’s warning about blonde elves.

            “People, people,” the blonde elf acted like it was obvious.  “My name’s Sera,” she pointed at some boxes.  “This is cover; get around it, for the reinforcements.  Don’t worry; someone tipped me their equipment shed.  They’ve got no breeches.”

            “What do you…?”  Cassandra was cut off as mercenaries filled the courtyard.

            “You couldn’t have taken their weapons?” Evelyn unleashed a blizzard at the approaching mercenaries, who were charging in tunics and smalls.  Cullen and Cassandra charged to the edge of the storm and began engaging the pantless men.

            Varric loosed one bolt after another, as Evelyn began sending ice blasts and individual paid soldiers.

            The mercenaries were dead in minutes.  “It’s just as well,” Evelyn shrugged.  “They weren’t getting paid, since Sera already killed their employer.”

            “My friends really came through with that pitch,” Sera looked admiringly over the courtyard.  “They had no breeches,” she giggled.  Then she looked back at Evelyn.  “So, Herald of Andraste, you’re a strange one.  I’d like to join.”

            “It would help if you told me exactly who you are,” Evelyn was still finding herself confused about what exactly was going on.

            “One name,” Sera declared.  “No, wait, two.  It’s, well, it’s like this… I sent you notes to find hidden stuff by my friends, the Friends of Red Jenny.  That’s me!  Well, I’m one there’s a few.  One is a woman in Kirkwall.  There are three in Starkhaven, brothers or something.”

            “There are three in Starkhaven?”  Cullen repeated. 

            “The nobles in Starkhaven are particularly bad,” Sera explained.  “Their prince is a twat or something.”

            “That he is,” Varric agreed.

            Cullen nodded.

            “Well this lets little people be part of something while they stick it to nobles they hate,” Sera explained.  “So here, in your face, I’m Sera.  The Friends of Red Jenny is sort of out there.  I use them to help you, plus, arrows.”

            “We already have an army and spies, what can you add to those?” Evelyn was actually considering it, even if she did still hear Morrigan’s voice in the back of her head telling her not to trust blonde elves.

            “Here’s how it is,” Sera gestured.  “You important people are up here, shoving your cods around.  ‘Bla, blah, I’ll crush you’.  ‘No, I’ll crush you’.”  She started making kissing noises, pretending to be the crushing nobles making out with each other.  Then she coughed when she noticed Evelyn’s expression.  “Then you’ve got generals and so forth.  And, sure, you’ve got soldiers.  Like those dead guys who was protecting that other dead guy.  And what gave them up?  Some drunk got his key lifted, because another drank was pissed about bills.  So, no, I’m not Captain Swordface and I don’t march, but if you don’t listen down here,” she gestured low.  “You risk your breeches.  Like those guards.  I stole their…”  She giggled at the memory.  “Look, do you need people or not?  I want to get everything back to normal, like you.”

            Evelyn turned to her companions.  “What do you think?”

            “She’s out of her Maker Loving mind,” Cassandra advised.

            “That’s why I like her,” Varric added.

            “The Friends of Red Jenny are formidable,” Cullen conceded.  “Just keep her out of the way myself and my soldiers.”

            “Fine,” Evelyn smiled.  “Report to me at Haven.  I have to go to a boring salon at a pompous duke’s estate.  Do you want to come?”

            Sera zerberted.  “I’ll find you at Haven.”


	36. The Shark Scenting Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Herald of Andraste goes to Madame DeFer's soiree.

Evelyn wore a Free Marcher style gown.  It was a soft gold underdress with a green bodice and overskirt with gold trim and embroidery.  The back of the bodice’s neck came up into a lifted, pointed collar that covered the back of her neck.  She had braided the front of her hair into a crown that wrapped around her head, but let the rest of her golden curls cascade down her back.  Several gold ribbons were threaded through the braids and curls.

            Cullen wore black soft leather trews with a black shirt and a black and gold doublet.  He wore a musketeer style black hat, with two long gold feathers.  Evelyn had always found him handsome, but found she had trouble looking away from him at first.   He had no idea how appealing he looked, it seemed.  He kept pointing out that Varric was wearing his normal clothing.  Varric countered that society would be more scandalized if he covered up his magnificent chest hair.

            Cassandra grumbled and made disgusted noises as she smoothed the skirts of her dark red Antivan style dress.  The skirt started just under her chest and was full.  Evelyn kept assuring her that the volume would allow her freedom of movement and to kick anyone whose butt needed kicking.

            Together, the four walked through a flower garden that sported prophets laurel and crystal grace.  The flowers weren’t the most common in Orlais and Evelyn suspected that that was why the duke, or his gardener, was going for.  They were pretty enough, but not what she would put in a garden.  A doorman bowed to them as they were let in. 

“Lady Trevelyan of Ostwick, representing the Inquisition, and her companions.”  A herald called out.

            “OK, I didn’t give you my name,” she confronted the herald.  “How did you know who I am?”

            “What?”  He was startled.

            “I had just walked in,” she pointed out.  “No one stopped me and asked me for my name.  Yet you knew who I was how?”

            “I…”  The man stammered.  “It… it is my job to know, my lady.”

            “You’re right, Emerald,” Varric nodded.  “This is getting creepy.”

            A masked man greeted her, as her party fanned out to mingle.  “A pleasure, my lady, we so rarely have a chance to meet anyone new.  It is always the same crowd at these parties.  So you must be a guest of Madame de Fer.  Or are you here for Duke Bastien?”

            Evelyn looked around.  “Perhaps it is time to have new hostesses throwing these things if they can not be creative.”  Indeed, the guest seemed a bit bored.  The orchestra playing was mediocre and there appeared to be no other entertainment.  In the Free Marches centered around new ideas and concepts and the hostess had to have examples of those new innovations around, even if it were just a new style of music or an up and coming artist to feature.  This one was just uninteresting.

            “Are you here on business?” The masked man’s companion, a masked woman, inquired.  “I have heard the most curious tales of you.  I cannot imagine half of them are true.”

            “There are tales running around about me?”  Evelyn was getting freaked out enough about strangers knowing who she was.  “Now they were spreading rumors around Thedas about her.  I am sure that whatever you have heard, the truth is more brilliant.”

            “Oh, do tell,” the woman pressed.  “Did Andraste really hand you out of the Fade?”

            “Did you really fight two dozen Rogue Templars yourself?” The man wanted to know.

            “Were the Rogue Templars and Apostate Mages really having orgies all over the Hinterlands?”  The woman had to know.

            “They had to do something between fighting,” she gave a nonchalant shrug.

            “What about the blood sacrifices?”  The man wanted to know.  “I heard they were also committing blood sacrifices.”

            She had to wonder where the Orlesian nobles were getting their information from.  “I’m sure the Templars were,” she assured him.

            “The Templars,” the woman gave a little, pleasantly shocked gasp.  “We should have known they would start as soon as they left the chantry.” 

            “We should have,” Evelyn noticed that the fountain behind her two new friends was quite lovely.  “So this is the duke’s home.  I’m sorry I didn’t get your names.”

            “I am Lady Julin DePaquet and this is Count Gustav LaRoque.  Yes, he, the duke, has been having a scandalous affair with Madame de Fer for years, even before his wife died in a mysterious accident.  There are some who blame the Empress herself, their daughter was married to Duke Gaspard after all.  However, others whisper that it was Madame de Fer who arranged the riding accident.  She thought that she was powerful enough to get the Divine to let a mage marry, but she has yet to reach that level of power.  Of course, now that the Divine is dead and there are no more circles, perhaps she will be able to do it.  The duke isn’t here at the moment, though.”

“His business with the council of Heralds often takes him from home for long periods,” Gustav added.  “It can’t be good for a man of his years.”

“And of course there is the civil war,” Julin added.  “Bastien probably wishes to distance himself from the actions of his one-time son-in-law.”

“Tearing up the Dales in a foolish bid for power?”  Gustav tsked.  “It will end in disgrace for Gaspard.  Everyone knows it.”

            Wherever they were getting their information from, some of it was useful, Evelyn realized.  Besides, they were kind of fun.  “Everything you’ve heard about me is completely true,” she confided.  “As are the rumors of the war in the Hinterlands.

            “Better and better,” Julin smiled.  “The Inquisition should attend more parties.  I shall make sure you are always on my guest lists, Evelyn.”

            “ _You_ can call me Evie,” she decided.

            “The Inquisition?”  A man descended the stairs.  The sleeves on his shirt were too big and his doublet was an interesting color between brown and orange.  “What a load of pig shit!  Washed up sisters and crazed seekers?  No one can take them seriously.”

            “Did you hear that, Seeker?”  Varric called to Cassandra as he walked casually towards Evelyn, ready to have her back, but not showing any alarm.  “I think he’s met you before.  I would hardly call Leliana washed up, especially not if she is in hearing distance.  You never know when a knife or dagger will appear.”

            “Everyone knows it’s just an excuse for a bunch of political outcasts to grab power,” the man continued.

            “The Inquisition is working to restore peace and order to Thedas,” Evelyn pointed out.  “Besides, when is the last time _you_ were delivered from the Fade by Andraste herself?”

            “Here comes the outsider, restoring peace with an army!”  He now caught Cullen’s attention.  The Commander had been actively avoiding the Orlesians and was hiding behind a statue of Justinian II.  He slowly moved to protect the Herald.  “We know what your Inquisition truly is.”  He took an aggressive step towards Evelyn.  “If you were a woman of honor, you’d step outside and answer the charges.”

            “Do you think I am not?”  Evelyn took her own step forward.  “I am not just a free mage, nor am I merely an agent for the Inquisition.  I am not even just the Herald of Andraste.  I am a daughter of the House of Trevelyan, the youngest of Bann Trevelyan’s children.  I accept your challenge as a member of my House, for you will see this day that even a Trevelyan who was locked in a mage tower most of her life can easily best you.”

            “Evie,” Cullen rushed to her.

            Her opponent reached for his sword and then froze.  He was covered by a thin sheen of ice.  Evelyn studied the spell for a moment.  It was a simple casing that did not go even skin deep.

            “My dear Marquis, how unkind of you to use such language in my house… to my guest,” a woman with a slight Orlesian accent slowly sauntered down the stairs.  She wore the most atrocious double henna hat and a mask of gold.  That gold clashed with the gold on the double horned hat.  The collar of her outfit was the widest that Evelyn had ever seen, but the back seemed to be missing.  Her sleeves were garishly puffed and too short.  They showed a tight blue under chemise that must be an illusion with how low the bodice was.  There was even lace on the end more fitted for a child than a grown woman.  The skirt split to show tight trews that were a match for the sleeves.  Someone needed to find the blind Avaar who had dressed her and get them back to their tribe where they might recover from the fit of insanity they were obviously going through.  “You know such rudeness is intolerable.”

            “Madame Vivienne,” the marquis spoke, confirming Evelyn’s low opinion of the spell.  “I humbly beg your pardon.”

            “You should,” Vivienne circled him like a shark scenting blood.  “Whatever am I going to do with you, my dear?”

            “My lady,” she turned to Evelyn.  “You’re the wounded…”

            “Excuse me… Vivienne… was it?”  Evelyn ignored the disgusted noise that she heard Cassandra make.  “I understand that you may not like your guests challenging each other to duels, but the challenge was made.  I am more offended by you trying to stop me from defending the honor of the House of Trevelyan… and also the Inquisition.”  She waved her hand dramatically and the marquis was easily thawed out and blinking at her.

            Vivienne looked from the marquis to Evelyn and back.  The Herald of Andraste had very easily broken her spell.  “My dear, you do not…”

            “I am not your dear,” Evelyn informed her.  “Nor am I your sweetheart.  ‘Tis erroneous to use such platitude and nicknames with those whom you have not formed the bonds requisite to do so,” her accent suddenly became that of someone who grew up in the wilds of Ferelden rather than a noble of Ostwick.   “I believe you wanted to go outside and settle this matter.  I say that we do so.”

            “I… I didn’t realize you were a mage,” he admitted.  “However, this is a matter of honor and I am no coward.  Yet, I would remind you that the Chantry has denounced the use of magic on the fields of honor.”

            “The Chantry has renounced me,” Evelyn shrugged.  “I am not afraid of their censorship.  However, I do not need my magic to defeat you, as tempting as it may be.  Unlike our hostess, I will not attack you unawares.” 

            He began to draw out his sword.  “I am a chevalier of Orlais; you can not defeat me without tricks.”

            “Of course I can, but please do not draw your sword until we are outside,” she held up a hand.  “This is the _duke’s_ home.”

            “I want to discuss the loyal mages and the Inquisition,” Vivienne insisted.  “We must do that right now.”

            “I am a free mage, you know we go with loyal mages like oil and with water,” Evelyn shook her head.  “Your idea is terrible and this really is more pressing.  It’s about honor and all that, it seems you don’t understand about such things.”

“Such things are trivial compared to the power and the breach in the sky, my dear,” Vivienne insisted.

“I told you not to ‘my dear’ me.  Varric, the quarterstaff I bought, please,” Evelyn turned to follow the marquis outside.  The rest of Lady Vivienne’s guests moved to follow them.

            “No, I can not allow this at _my_ party,” Vivienne aimed a freezing spell at the combatants.

            Evelyn blocked it and froze just Vivienne’s right hand, the freezing spell wasn’t around the skin, but in the blood.  Vivienne grit her teeth.  “Honor is honor.  If you want to talk business, try Cassandra.  I’m not recruiting today.”  She took the decorated staff from Varric and went outside.

 

 

            “Seeker Pentaghast,” Vivienne turned to her.  “You must understand the importance of the Loyal Mages.  Is your Herald always this much of a heathen?”

            “She was challenged to a duel,” Cassandra reminded her.  “The Inquisition, including myself personally, was insulted.  She can’t refuse.  If you want to discuss business with the Inquisition, write Lady Josephine.  She is our ambassador.  I’m sure she would be happy to come here and talk to you.”  She chased after Evelyn.

 

 

            Evelyn Trevelyan confidently twirled her staff as she stood before the marquis.  His sword was in his hand and he seemed to be trying to decide the best means of attack.  “That isn’t even a sword you’re waving about.”

            “No it isn’t,” she pointed at Cullen by tilting her head.  “I asked him to teach me how to use a sword, but he refused.  I don’t need one to beat you, though.  I know what I’m doing with this beauty.”   She stopped twirling and swung the staff around her, showing off.

            “Evie, be careful,” Cullen took a protective step towards her, wishing now that he had taught her how to use a sword.

            The marquis lunged at her, but Evelyn easily sidestepped him, she swung her staff in a low arc, knocking his feet out from under him.  The marquis fell but sprang back up.  He began to circle her.

            “What did the Inquisition ever do to you?”  Evelyn jabbed the edge of the staff out and hit the marquis’ stomach.

            The marquis doubled over, but stayed on his feet.  “I read a letter when I arrived at the Salon; it suggested the Inquisition had something to do with my not competing in the tourney.” 

            “I only know you are a marquis,” Evelyn pointed out.  “The Inquisition would have no reason to keep you out.  Have you offended someone who could have planted the letter, hoping you’d get killed soon?”

            “I…”  He swung at her, but Evelyn easily blocked the swing with her staff.  “I… did insult Lady Vivienne.  I suggested that the duke had to feel around in the dark to find her when he humped her and that her head was so smooth, that he must often mistake it for her tail.  I then… suggested that half the poppycock that comes out of her mouth is a result of the duke’s own cock always being in there.”

            Evelyn could hear Varric’s open mirth and saw Cullen trying to remain dignified out of the corner of her eye.  Cassandra made a disgusted noise.  “You…”  She had to admire the insult the marquis had laid at Madame de Fer.  “Put down your sword.  I want to be friends.”

            “I insulted the Inquisition,” he reminded her.

            “Not half as well as you did that circle jerk who is throwing this party,” she smiled.  “She obviously planted the letter, you know.  I can either give you a concussion or you can accept the friendship of a heretic organization filled with washed-up sisters and crazed seekers.”

            He eyed her and the staff for a moment.  She obviously knew what she was doing with it and he realized that Vivienne was the type to have fabricated the letter and ensured he found it.  The sword lowered.  “Alphonse, my lady.”

            She set the tip of the staff on the ground and leaned casually against it.  “I am Evelyn Trevelyan, the daughter of Bann Trevelyan of Ostwick.  You can call me Evie.”

            “I will do so, Evie,” he extended his hand and she took it.

            Half the crowd cheered as the other half muttered at not getting to see more blood.

            “Well, Emerald, you’ve insulted our hostess and made a new friend,” Varric observed.  “I think it’s time to go home.”

            “Past time,” Cullen agreed.

            “I am not crazed,” Cassandra imputed.

            Evelyn took the arm Varric offered and let her lead her away, as she used the staff as a walking stick.


	37. For the Greater Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fiona returns to Redcliffe.

Fiona breathed easier as she rode towards Redcliffe Villagers.  She was happy to see the Hinterlands peaceful once more.  Well, as peaceful as any land that was now filled with bandits could be.  They were easier to deal with than the war that had been raging through the countryside.  Plus, the Inquisition would be there soon.  The worse part of the Free Mages fight for freedom was almost over.

            Her horse whinnied and began prancing nervously.  “What is it, Sarah?”

            A green mist sprang up and swirled around her. 

 

 

            “Are you all right, Grand Enchanter?”  An impatient voice asked. 

Fiona blinked; it almost felt as if she had fallen asleep for a moment.  “Sorry, I… I lost my train of thought.”

“Don’t do this, Fiona,” Catalina, the former Grand Enchanter of Ostwick begged.

“This is for the good of your people,” the Tevinter Magister held a quill before her.

She remembered how he’d saved her people after the Divine’s death, as the Templars descended on them.  Now he asked for the Free Mages loyalty and servitude to Tevinter in exchange.  She signed.

 

 

“You have to be kidding me,” Dorian followed Felix through the streets of Redcliffe.  He wore a dark, fashionable cloak and moved cautiously to avoid any Venatori who now wandered the streets.  None did, however.  They were in Redcliffe Castle.

“No,” Felix shifted his gaze to the Gull and Lantern.  “She is really selling the Southern Mages into Indentured Servitude in exchange for my father’s protection.”

“Doesn’t she know that they will just be a rung up from slaves,” Dorian shook his head and tsked.  “They won’t even be a rung up, they _will_ be slaves.  They just have a set time when they can try to gain their freedom.”

“They will be trebuchet fodder for the Vinatori,” Felix corrected.  “He’s conquered this town without lifting a finger.  Well, he lifted one when he threw the arl and Chantry sisters out.”

Dorian slipped into the building.  “So I’ll be alone here?”

“Only until we find help,” Felix assured him.

“The arl really just left when your father told him to?”  Dorian was surprised at the cowardice of the Fereldens.

“He pulled out a couple of parlor tricks and told Arl Teagan to leave,” Felix affirmed.  “And he left.”

“Likely to get help,” Dorian concluded.  “I hope they bring their own army of mages.”

“We need to get word to the Inquisition,” Felix agreed.  “They are cleaning up the mess caused by the Breach.  Father’s time magic suddenly working seems to be related to the time distortion of the rifts in this area, so it’s part of the mess too, right?”

“I hope they see it that way,” Dorian agreed.”


	38. What are you Getting At?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roderick is recruiting Templars to his cause.

“What are you getting at?”  Brenna blinked at Rodrick.

“The Inquisition defies the Chantry and its will,” Rodrick explained.  “As a Templar, it is your duty to protect the Chantry and enforce its tenants.  You serve us.”

“Us?”  She raised an eyebrow.  “Who is us?”

“Those who are willing to do what is right,” he insisted.  “We will put the upstarts in their place and restore order the way the Maker and His Bride have always wanted.  We need to move while their Commander is gone.”

“You mean you want to start an Exalted March,” she turned to Fergus.  “Did you hear that?”

“I did,” Fergus affirmed.

“Who are you?” Rodrick didn’t recognize the Templar’s fiancé.

“I’m just Knight Lieutenant Brenna’s fiancé,” Fergus shrugged and shook his head.  “I’m no one of importance.”  He found it amusing that Rodrick hadn’t even noticed Catie in the room.  She was practicing blending into shadows and she was getting good at it.

“Oh, well I’m sure you are a Maker fearing man who sees that justice has been thwarted by this upstart group and we must take action now,” Rodrick insisted.

“I served the Divine,” Brenna enlightened him.  “She is dead.  The Inquisition is doing what it can to restore order.  To my understanding, they are doing so under Divine Justinia’s orders.  They have a rit and everything.”

“If you change your mind, let me know,” he stood.  “We meet tonight to discuss our next move.” 

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Brenna was trying to figure out how he didn’t know that the Herald was her sister.

“Pray upon this and join us, _Knight Lieutenant_ ,” he left.

“Who is we?”  Fergus wondered when the cleric was out of earshot.

“I have the whole list,” Catie held up several papers that she’d stolen from Rodrick with no one being the wiser.  “It even lists the times.  I guess I should go take it to Leliana.  I think she’s already guessed how she lost those papers in Denerim.”  She’d picked Leliana’s pockets while Queen Elissa distracted her.

“Perhaps I should take them to her,” Fergus insisted.  “I don’t think she’s ready to admit she was one-upped by a child.”

“Sure she is.  I think she’s already figured that out,” Catie was confident.  “Besides, I want to see what she’ll do to Rodrick.  Do you think she’ll just stab him or will she somehow use him without him realizing?  I’ll be back by dinner, Uncle Fergus,” she kissed his cheek and skipped out.  “I’m going to go find Alfie and Jamie after I talk to Leliana.”

“There goes the future of Ferelden,” Fergus watched after her.  “An expert rogue who likes to insult Orlesians.”  He grew silent for a moment as he wondered if Oren, if he’d lived, would have been like Catie.  He remembered that Elissa had once promised to teach him how to use a sword.”

“We’ll add to that future after we’re married,” Brenna assured him.  “Highever needs an heir.”

“So does Ferelden,” he admitted.  “I wonder whatever became of Elissa.”

 

 

            Leliana watched as Rylen trained with the Inquisition’s soldiers.  He was competent, but she hoped Cullen returned soon.  She’d already received news that there was trouble in Val Royeaux.  It appeared that the Templars would be of no help to the Inquisition.  She had made no secret that she believed in the rebel mage’s cause, though.

            “I’m sorry that I have nothing to report, my lady,” Carter stepped up beside her.

            “I’m sure Rodrick is up to something,” Leliana could feel it.  Josephine had already reported that he’d visited several nobles to stir up trouble, but with the Herald and Commander both gone, now was the time he would strike.  It had to be more than him just trying to cause fights between mages and Templars that had joined the Inquisition, which he had tried.

            “He will be meeting with those he’s convinced to join him on the far bank of the lake half an hour after sunset,” Catie spoke up.  She giggled as both Carter and Leliana jumped.

            “Catie,” Leliana nodded coolly to her, hoping her embarrassment at being snuck up on didn’t show.  “Rodrick actually tried to get the _Teyrna_ of Gwaren on his side?”

            “He has no idea who I am,” one side of her lips curled.  “He doesn’t even know who Uncle Fergus is, besides a Templar’s fiancée.  He tried to recruit Brenna, Brenna _Trevelyan_.  He didn’t even realize I was in the room.”

            “Why am I not surprised?” Carter murmured.

            “Good work, Catie.  I’ll take things from here,” Leliana was just glad the girl was on their side… or not the side of their enemy at least, a new thought struck her.  “You aren’t in contact with Ferelden’s spymasters are you?”

            “Ferelden has spymasters?”  Catie blinked as if in confusion.  “I’ve never heard of such an organization being formally under Ferelden’s King.”  They reported to the queen and the king’s advisers didn’t even know of their existence, although the king did, so she was telling the truth from a certain point of view.

            Leliana sighed.  Alistair wasn’t their enemy and Josephine wouldn’t believe that a Ferelden pre-teen was involved in such matters, therefor she wouldn’t push the matter.  She’d accuse Leliana of stirring up trouble with Ferelden because a child once picked her pocket.  Besides, she liked the kid.  “Do you want to come with me tonight?   I’m going to catch Rodrick in the act and banish him.’

            “It sounds like fun,” Catie agreed.  She turned her attention to the soldiers and shook her head.  “Does that soldier, there, think he’s in an army or a dance troop?”


	39. You Want me to What?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn goes to Josephine to set up a duel.

“You want me to what?” Josephine blinked in confusion at Evelyn.  Was the Herald of Andraste concerned about a chantry chancellor being locked up under the chantry building or the growing numbers of the Inquisition?  No, she had dangerous and frivolous matters on her mind. 

            “I need you to set up a duel between Cullen and me,” Evelyn repeated herself.  “He won’t teach me how to use a sword, because he believes I am a weak, mewling Circle Jerk.  I am going to show him that I don’t need my magic to be dangerous, not if I have a weapon.”

            “But you just said you don’t know how to use a sword,” Josephine pointed out.

            “I won’t use a sword,” Evelyn shrugged.  “I know how to use other weapons.  Don’t worry about that.”

            “So I heard,” Josephine had almost had a heart attack when she’d heard about the duel at the Grand Enchanter’s Salon.  She’d overheard Cassandra happily describing the encounter to Leliana.  From her understanding, the Herald had managed to insult the leader of the Loyal Mages by insisting on dueling one of the other guests rather than discuss what those mages could do for the Inquisition.  “You could have Cassandra teach you.”

            “I don’t think she will, either,” Evelyn shook her head.  “She doesn’t trust mages and I’ve known Cullen longer.”

            “You have?”  Josephine was surprised.

            “He and Brian are… were… friends,” she explained.  “They met at the Teyrn of Highever’s party, the one he threw when he started courting Brianna.  They had a lot in common and just seemed to bond.  Like Brenna, Brian was a Templar.  I miss him,” she added in a small voice.

            “Your husband?”  Josephine seemed to recall Cullen saying something about a Brian Trevelyan and his connection to the Herald.

            “My brother!”  Evelyn’s eyes widened.  “I was a circle mage, I wasn’t free to marry.  Brian and Brenna made it hard to even date.  Our parents made sure they served in the circle where I was imprisoned.”

            “There you are!”  Leliana rushed into the room.  “I’ve been looking for you, Evie.  Are you having Josephine arrange your duel with Cullen?  I heard you challenged him.  That is going to be interesting to watch.  Nonlethal spells only, I beg you.”

            “Leli!”  Josephine objected.  She couldn’t believe her friend was condoning the Commander and Herald go at each other like barbarians.

            “Oh, I’m going to beat him without magic,” Evelyn assured her.

            “Are we setting this up for before or after you go to Redcliffe and speak with the mages?”  Leliana wondered.

            “It would have to be after,” Josephine insisted.  “We need to secure allies against the Breach as soon as possible.  It would have been helpful if you had at least tried to get the aid of the Loyal Mages.  I hear that you never spoke of the matter with Lady Vivienne.”

            “I don’t want to deal with the Circle Jerks,” Evelyn revealed.  “They are so in love with their chains that they think the rest of us should still be wearing them too.  You should have seen how they kissed up to the Templars and Reverend Mothers before the rebellion.  In some cases, it is literally kissed up to.  At least they were on their knees and using their lips if you know what I mean.”

            “My lady!”  Josephine gasped.

            Leliana laughed.  “I need a favor of you before you leave, my lady.”

            “Of course,” Evelyn followed the spymaster out.   “What is wrong?”

            “The Grey Wardens have disappeared,” Leliana explained.

            “They what?”  Evelyn stopped walking.  “What if there is another Blight?  According to the Chantry, there are two more Old Gods out there.”

            “Actually, there were ten not seven,” Leliana flinched.  “Warden-Commander Surana uncovered three more while researching in Highever.”

            “Neria?”  Evelyn wondered just how long the elven mage warden had been in Highever that time.

            “You know her?” Leliana bit her bottom lip, pondering.  “How?”

            “We met during the Highever Games,” Evelyn explained.  “She’s missing, too, isn’t she?”

            “They all are,” Leliana confirmed.  “Except one.  I have heard of a Warden Blackwall who is operating in the Hinterlands right now.  I need you to find him.  He might know what is going on with the rest of the Wardens.”

            “I’ll find him,” Evelyn promised.  “I have a missing friend, I want her found.  He may know where she is, thus I must find him.”

            Leliana was pleasantly surprised to realize that Evie had no thoughts of how Neria’s disappearance benefited her sister.  She knew of Fergus Cousland and Neria Saurana’s past.  She also knew that the reason they weren’t together had nothing to do with their feelings for each other.  Brenna Trevelyan’s life would be easier if Neria disappeared, but Evie was ready to find her sister’s unknown rival.  “I appreciate you finding him.  I hope he has answers for us.”

            Evelyn nodded and wondered out of the Chantry.  She wanted to find somewhere to be alone.  For one thing, she’d listened to the heads of the Inquisition bicker about whether to ally with the mages or Templars.  Did Cullen keep forgetting that _she_ was a mage?  How had he not caught on until they were both in Haven?

            “Excuse me miss,” a mercenary stopped her as she stepped out of the chantry.  “I came bearing a message and have been trying to find someone I can give it to.”

            “You can leave it with me,” she assured him.  “What is it?”

            “My boss, the Iron Bull, Captain of Bull’s Chargers would like to meet with the Inquisition.  He is interested in joining and offers the aid of the Chargers.  He asks that you meet him on the Storm Coast.”

            “Who are you?  Why did he send you?”  She wondered. 

            “I am Krem,” his second in command, Krem bowed.

            “I was leaving for the Hinterlands tomorrow,” she admitted.  “I guess we can swing around the long way and meet this Iron Bull.”

            “Thank you, my lady,” Krem bowed.

            “Aren’t you going to even ask who I am?”  She wondered.  “Or are you going to just trust that I’m someone who can speak for the Inquisition?”

            “You’re the Herald of Andraste,” he shrugged.  “I assumed you could make these sorts of decisions, should I go find someone else?”

            “How did you know who I am?”  She challenged.  “I didn’t introduce myself and you didn’t ask.”

            “Well…” He began.  “You see…”

            “Herald,” a servant she’d never seen before came running to her.  “Commander Cullen is escorting Chancellor Rodrick out of Haven and thought you’d want to come wave goodbye at him.”

            Evelyn rushed after the servant.


	40. Captain Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor picks up Jack

**Cardiff 21 st century**

 

            Rain poured down on the Pantmawr Cemetery.  Captain Jack Harkness’ coat swirled around in the insistent wind.  Under his left arm, Ianto Jones silently wept.  He had his right arm around Gwen Cooper, whose shoulders shook with her sobs.  Jack silently listened to the priest’s empty words of comfort.

            In the coffin, being laid to rest was Toshiko Sato.  They would spread Owen’s ashes over the ocean the next day.  Ianto and Gwen were all that were left of his Torchwood team.  While Jack mourned his lost team members, he thanked any power that might oversee the universe that Ianto and Gwen had survived. 

            As the ceremony ended, the coffin was lowered and the rain and wind picked up.  Jack’s coat whipped wildly around him when he went to walk away.  “Rhys is here,” Gwen commented as her husband slowly walked to them.  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”  She embraced both Jack and Ianto before going to meet Rhys.

            “Will I see you tonight?” Ianto wiped away a tear Jack hadn’t realized he had shed.

            Jack smiled gently at the man he loved.  “Are you having problems sleeping?”

            “It isn’t that,” Ianto assured him.  “I know you have problems after all the sleep you got.”  Jack had been taken into the distant past and buried alive, for over a thousand years by his own brother.  He’d been found by Torchwood who had put him in cryogenics to wait until the time that he had been abducted and forced back over a thousand years. 

            “I do,” Jack admitted.  “It’s still more than a bit disconcerting.”

            “Why don’t we…”  Ianto stopped as a throbbing whine filled the air.  “I see you have a better offer waiting.  I think I’ll go call Gwen and drag Rhys and her to Owen’s favorite pub.  It will be a nice tribute.”  He strolled off.

            Jack turned to where the TARDIS had appeared.  The door opened and he ran in.  He smiled at Donna.  “Hi, Jack Harkness.”

            “Stop flirting,” the Doctor ordered.  “We need to get back to Thedas.”

            “We still have a pseudo-god to defeat,” Jack agreed.  “And I wasn’t flirting.  I just said hi.”

            “For you, that’s flirting.”


	41. Wynne Knew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josephine recruits Vivienne.

“It will take us a full week to get to the Stormcoast and then to the Hinterlands,” Cassandra protested.  “Why don’t we just send someone else to the Stormcoast to meet with this Iron Bull?”

            “You’re right,” Evelyn agreed.  “Why don’t you take Solas and Sara with you and go meet him.  I’ll take Varric and look for this Blackwall.”

            “I can’t leave you with just one companion,” Cassandra protested.  “And Commander Cullen can’t go with you.  Not only does he need to stay with the troops, but the last time he joined you, you challenged him to a duel.  I don’t want to see what will happen next time.”

            “Emerald and I will be fine, Seeker,” Varric assured her.  “You’ve seen her in a fight.  She can question a Warden and negotiate with a bunch of mages without any help.  We’ll be back in Haven before you.”

            “I guess you’re right,” she agreed.  “I’ll see you back here.”

            As they crossed the bridge, a carriage passed; heading into Haven.  Vivienne glared at them from the gilded window.

 

            The carriage continued on to the chantry.  Vivienne descended from the carriage and promenaded into the building.  She turned to a chantry sister.  “I am here to see Lady Josephine.”

            The chantry sister pointed towards the door to the room Josephine and Minaeve shared.  “She’s in there.  She’s the one with the clipboard and quill.  The other is Minaeve, don’t bother her.”

            Vivienne waved the chantry sister away as she strolled to the office.  She looked down her nose at Josephine.  “The Loyal Mages have come to help the Inquisition, despite the insult, your Herald dealt to me.”

            “Lady Vivienne!”  Josephine stood up.  “I’m so sorry about the incident.  I’m afraid that, like Andraste, the Herald does not shy away from a fight.  I’ll have a seat brought for you and we can discuss business.”

 

 

            “Evie isn’t going to be happy,” Leliana advised Josephine as Vivienne settled into her new rooms inside the chantry.

            “Allying with the Loyal Mages is in the Inquisition’s best interest,” Josephine insisted.  “We need all the help we can get, especially since the Chantry is still censoring us.”

            “Wynne knew Vivienne,” Leliana recalled.  “She pointed out that someone who works only to further their own power has no right to talk about the safety of mages or the rest of Thedas.  She once commented ‘If only Vivienne had as much power as she did ambition, she could do great things.  And if only Vivienne had as much power as she thought she did…’  She assured me that no mage has had that much power.  She also thought Vivienne used unscrupulous means to gain her power.

“What do you think is ‘unscrupulous’?”  Josephine wanted to know.  “I keep telling you niceness before knives, she didn’t give me the impression that she was the kind of person who needed such reminding.”

“Oh, just wait,” Leliana smiled.  “Besides, knives solve problems more quickly than Vivienne ever has.”

“Lady Vivienne also requested that she be included in the Herald of Andraste’s inner circle,” Josephine revealed as the pair lounged in Leliana’s tent where she oversaw her scouts.  “I didn’t think Evie would mind, so I agreed.”

Leliana finished tying a note to one of her birds, Ser Plucky.  “You don’t know the Herald well, do you?  Sometimes she says things that remind me eerily of Morrigan.  Other times, I know she might be stubborn, but is at least a good person.  Well, we can’t force Evie to accept anyone into her party, so you will just have to find a new job for the Enchantress.  I have a feeling she’ll be left behind all of the time.”

“Vivienne is said to be powerful, plus she commands the loyal mages,” Josephine objected.  “And would be handy in a fight.”

“Morrigan was handy in a fight and I still would have preferred to leave her at camp… or in her swamp,” Leliana muttered. 

“What was that?” Josephine asked.

“I was just reminiscing,” Leliana waved her question away.  “Evie is a Free Mage.  She champions the rights of her people; she is unlikely to welcome the aid of those who oppose what she stands for.”

“The Inquisition stands for order and stability,” Josephine reminded her.  “We are not taking sides in this Mage-Templar war or any of the other wars raging across Thedas.”

“People are not organizations and she is not the type who will turn her back on her people, besides the way she talks sometimes makes me suspect she has a connection to someone who distains those who allow themselves to be caged.  A person who is ruthless and is not afraid to use any means necessary to get what she wants.  We should be glad she is on our side.”

“You just told me she won’t like Vivienne because the enchantress has those traits,” Josephine reminded her.

“Oh, the person I’m talking about is not above blood magic, but she isn’t as condescending and self-absorbed,” Leliana assured her.  “You’ll see when Evie returns.  You can be grateful that we weren’t able to recruit the Hero of Ferelden.  She would have insulted Vivienne to her face and then found an excuse to kill her.”


	42. Back in the Hinterlands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn recruits Blackwall and visits Redcliffe.

“Do you feel like we’re spending most of our lives in the Hinterlands lately, Emerald?” Varric wondered.  “I swear we spend more time here than we do Haven.”

“It is definitely larger than Haven,” she agreed.

“Haven doesn’t have bears and bandits, though,” Varric pointed out.  “I like it better there.”

“You don’t like nature, period,” she pointed out.  They had left camp about half an hour earlier and were hiking to a cabin where one man in the Crossroads had reported seeing a Grey Warden.  They were silent for some time before she spoke again.  “Varric, you’ve met the Doctor, haven’t you?  The man in the strange blue box?”

“Yes,” he confirmed.  “Bethany traveled around with him for some time.  Why?”  She thought she caught something in his voice for a moment, at least she thought she had.  Perhaps she imagined it.

“I was just wondering where he was,” she admitted.  “We could use his help right about now.”

“Perhaps he’s waiting for things to get worse, Emerald,” Varric suggested.

“They are going to get worse?”  She didn’t like that idea.

“I hope not,” he grumbled.  “I want to find who killed the Divine, close the rifts, and go home.  I’m done traipsing around the wilderness.”

They skimmed a lake and walked along the docks that led to a small cabin.  There was a large, burly man in Grey Warden Armor standing in front of a group of men in mismatched armor.  He had dark brown shoulder-length hair and a bushy beard.  He was training the men, granting them wisdom on how to fight.  “Remember _how_ to carry your shields!  You’re not hiding, you’re holding.  Otherwise, it’s useless.”

“Blackwall?” Evelyn interrupted him.  “Warden Blackwall?”  For some reason, these recruits didn’t seem like potential Grey Wardens.

Blackwall scowled at her and strode to her, studying her as he did so.  “You’re not… how do you know my name?  Who sent… ?”  Shouting interrupted him.  He lifted his shield, intercepting an arrow meant for Evelyn.

Men dressed in merchant uniforms came out of hiding from behind nearby trees.  These were the foul men who were terrorizing farmers for their own financial gain.

“That’s it!”  Blackwall declared.  “Help or get out.  We’re dealing with these idiots first.”  He faced the fearful farmers.  “Conscripts!  Here they come!”  He ran to meet the bandits.

“Bianca likes the wilds better,” Varric unholstered his crossbow and shot bandit after bandit.

The air around Evelyn grew cold, but not as frigid as that around the charging thugs.  Two of the hapless villains froze as they moved forward, becoming ice sculptures.

“Could you stop turning the temperature down so much?” Blackwall’s teeth chattered as he parried an enemy’s thrust.

“Spoilsport,” Evelyn muttered as she blasted another enemy with a cone of cold and then threw a fireball at a bandit who was charging Blackwall.  “That should warm the area up.”  A bandit had gotten through, but she swung her staff and hit him across the head with a thundering crack.

Soon, the few bandits left were running for their lives. 

“Nice work, Emerald,” Varric admired their handy work.

“Thank you, Good Ser Dwarf,” she bowed.  She then stopped and watched Blackwall stalk through the tall grass to where one of the bandits' corpsified bodies lay.

He knelt beside the dead man and stared for a moment.  “Sorry bastard.”  He closed the man’s eyes before standing and walking to his recruits.  “Good work, conscripts, even if this shouldn’t have happened.  They could’ve… well, thieves are made not born.  Take back what they stole.  Go back to your families.  You saved yourselves.”  He turned back to Evelyn.  “You’re no farmer.  Why do you know my name?  Who are you?”

“I know your name, because I’m an agent of the Inquisition,” she was delighted that he had to ask who she was.  Finally, someone didn’t seem to already know.  “We have a system of scouts and spies who have learned who you are.  They asked me to talk to you.  I am investigating whether the disappearance of the Grey Wardens has anything to do with the murder of the Divine.”

“Maker’s Balls,” he swore.  “The Wardens and the Divine?  That can’t… no, you’re asking, so you don’t really know.  First off, I didn’t know they disappeared.  But we do that right?  No more Blight, job done, Wardens are the first thing forgotten.”

“No, I don’t believe they leave their fortresses empty,” Evelyn countered.

“One thing I’ll tell you: No Warden killed the Divine,” Blackwall insisted.  “Our purpose isn’t political.”

“Tell that to the King and Queen of Ferelden,” Evelyn knew much of their story.  “I’m not here to accuse, though.  Not yet.  I just need information.  I’ve only found you, Knight Commander Surana is missing, as is the Hero of Ferelden.  The Orlesian and Ferelden Wardens are _all_ missing as well.  Where are the rest?”

“I haven’t seen any Wardens for months,” Blackwall shrugged nonchalantly.  “I travel alone, recruiting.  Not much interest because the archdemon is a decade dead, and no need to conscript because there’s no Blight coming.  Treaties give Wardens the right to take what we need.  These idiots forced this fight, so I ‘conscripted’ their victims.  They had to do what I said, so I told them to stand.  Next time, they won’t need me.  Grey Wardens can inspire, make you better than you think you are.”

“I wasn’t aware that Grey Wardens could take whatever they want,” she’d met Grey Wardens before, but had never heard that.  “Varric?”

“I didn’t know either,” he admitted.  Too bad he hadn’t realized it when Daylen was around.

“It’s complicated,” Blackwall looked away for a moment.  “If there’s a Blight, everyone has to help the effort to fight it.  The treaties are ancient.  Outside of Blights, it’s as binding as a clever tongue can make it.”

“You are just going to keep recruiting?”  She wondered.  “You aren’t going to go look for the others?”

“I have my orders,” he gave a half shrug.

“Well, thank you, Warden Blackwall,” her shoulders slumped.  “But where does that leave us?”  She strolled to Varric.  “We should get…”

“Inquisition!”  Blackwall stared after her.  “Agent, did you say?  Hold a moment.”  He rushed to her.  “The Divine is dead and the sky is torn up.  Events like these… thinking we’re absent is almost as bad as thinking we’re involved.”  He watched her for a moment and she gave a small nod.  “If you’re trying to put things right, maybe you need a Warden.  Maybe you need me.”

“The Inquisition needs all the support it can get,” she admitted.  She still wasn’t going to kiss up to Circle Jerks or Seekers who went around punching old ladies, though.  “But what can one Grey Warden do?”

“Save the fucking world if pressed,” he declared.  “Look, maybe fighting demons that fall from the sky isn’t something I’m practiced at, but show me someone who is.  And like I said, there are treaties.  Maybe this isn’t a Blight, but it’s bloody well a disaster.  Some will honor them.  Being a Warden means something to a lot of people.”

She liked his spirit and he was good with a sword.  “Warden Blackwall, the Inquisition accepts your offer.”

“Good to hear,” he affirmed.  “We both need to know what’s going on and perhaps I’ve been keeping to myself for too long.  This Warden walks with the Inquisition.”

“I’m glad,” she looked at the dead bandits.  “Let’s loot these bodies for anything good.  Then we need to get to Redcliffe Castle.  I have a date with Grand Enchanter Fiona and I don’t intend to miss it.”

 

 

They encountered several more bandits on their way to Redcliffe.  “I never realized that there were so many brigands in Ferelden,” Blackwall observed.  “I haven’t seen any harsh arls or heard of any unfair taxes.  I wonder what has the populace so displeased.” “These are a rather high number of bandits,” Varric agreed.  “Something else is going on.”

“We found notes that suggest they might not really be bandits,” Evelyn pointed out.  “Several of the scouts don’t believe they are.”

A rift opened up before them as they approached the gate into Redcliffe.  “There are only three of us, Emerald,” Varric eyed the rift.  The rift seemed to slow down and then speed up.  It almost paused before spitting out demons, but then the demons seemed to jump to new positions.  “Are you seeing this?”

“I’m seeing it,” Evelyn confirmed.

“Well, we have to fight them,” Blackwall moved his horse to charge.

“Not yet,” Evelyn held out a hand.  “I want to try something first.”  She reached out with her magic, sensing the blood and liquids in the demons.  She tried to touch the water in them with her magic and freeze it.  Half the demons fell, their skin becoming pale; reflecting the ice that now flowed in their veins or rather didn’t flow.  The other half attacked. 

“Nice work,” Varric congratulated her.

“I only got half,” she hit one of the demons were her staff.  “I tried for all of them.”

“What did you do?” Blackwall was impressed.

“I froze their blood,” she admitted.  “I need to keep practicing.”  She hit another demon with an arcane blast from her staff.  Then she stepped forward and lifted her left hand, pouring power into the rift. 

The rift convulsed and then poured out more demons.  Blackwall charged as Evelyn set an ice mine around herself.  Sure enough, a terror demon popped up to attack her and froze.  She used the respite to aim the mark on her left hand at the rift again.  She shot more power into the rift.  This time it quieted, she pulled her hand back, stitching the rift closed.

“Thank goodness you came,” a city guard appeared from behind a cluster of trees where she had been hiding.  “That rift appeared and… well, I can handle bandits; but we aren’t trained to take on demons.”

“With Redcliffe’s history, you’d think the guards would be trained to handle anything,” Varric commented.

“Yes, well, Bann Teagan has been busy,” she shrugged.  “He was the ambassador to Orlais and then he had to deal with the mages and Templars tearing everything up.  Anyway, go on in.”

There were people in the clothing of village peasants, as well as mage robes, milling around the streets as they entered.  Before them, the ruins of a large windmill loomed.  Redcliffe Castle could be seen in the background, a fortress blocking invaders from the only land path into Ferelden.  “We should do some shopping while here,” Evelyn decided.

“Because you didn’t buy enough toys in Val Royeaux,” Varric guessed.

“They may have things that we can’t get in Val Royeaux,” Evelyn countered.  “We should at least look for new materials and schematics for Harritt.”

“You just want a fancier staff, Emerald,” Varric decided.  “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how handy you are with a staff,” he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“I…”  She got the double entendre, but didn’t think it was deserved.  Should she tell the dwarf she hadn’t even been with a man that way?

“You are?”  Blackwall raised an eyebrow.

“I’m good with a quarterstaff as well as several other types of weapons,” she clarified.  “As for the other meaning… no.”

“Oh, so you have no one who…”  He hesitated before continuing with the double entendre.  “You don’t have one whose staff has a prior claim.”

She blushed at that.  “I’m single.  That’s all I’m saying… besides that, I like ancient weapons and can han… use most of them.”

“There you are,” a scout ran to them.  “You should know that we spread the word that you were coming, but no one was expecting you.”

“No one?”  Evelyn looked around.  “Not even Fiona?  She invited us here?”

“She did,” Varric whispered to Blackwall.  “I was there.”

“The heads of the Rebel Mages seem to be at the tavern, the Gull and Lantern,” the scout continued.  “Perhaps someone there knows what is going on.”

“I’ll go,” Evelyn agreed.  “Let scout Harding know that we might need back up.”

“Should we go now or poke around the village first?”  Varric scanned the area. 

“We’re going to snoop,” Evelyn decided.  “And shop.”

“Of course you want to go shopping,” Varric shook his head. 

 

 

The trio had encountered a storyteller who told them about a spirit in the lake who granted wishes to those who brought it blood lotus and an old Dalish elf who had settled in the city who was despairing that he could not put flowers on his wife’s grave.

“Are you really going to make a trip just to put flowers on her grave?”  Blackwall followed Evelyn as she led them towards the docks and Lake Calenhad.

“Of course she is, Hero,” Varric assured him.

“Of course I am,” she continued on her way.  She stopped at a dwarven bookseller.  Along with several interesting options, he had a few schematics that Harritt might like.

“Oh, look at this armor,” she showed Varric one of the schematics.  “This must be a hit with the mages staying here.  It is lightweight, which is perfect for a mage, but better than some of those unflattering robes the Circles kept wanting to put us in.  I wonder if Harritt could dye leather, I’d love to try it in a dark green and black.”

“Is she serious,” Blackwall whispered to Varric.

“Have I mentioned that Emerald is the daughter of a bann?”  Varric was looking through the schematics and books himself.  “It shows sometimes.  She’s right about some of these schematics, though.  I’d like to have Harritt try some of these out for me.”

“I’m glad you like them,” the dwarf nodded.  “Alas, many of these mages have no idea what to do with the schematics.  Things have gotten worse since the Vints arrived.”

“Vints?”  Evelyn repeated the nickname for Tevinter people.  “There are Tevinter magisters here?”

“There are,” the dwarf nodded.  “They arrived shortly after the Breach appeared.  It was almost like magic and in a town full of mages, that’s saying something.”

“I don’t like the sound of this,” Blackwall bristled.

“You and me both,” Evelyn wondered if the blonde elf she’d been warned about had been messing with the past again.  This didn’t feel like that, though.  No elf would give an advantage to Tevinter.

“I think we need to start asking even more questions,” Varric eyed the mages milling around them.

“Agents of the Inquisition!”  An elf in mage robes the color of Antivan coffee full of cream ran to them.  “My apologies!  Magister Alexius is in charge now, but has yet to arrive.  He is expected shortly.  You can speak with the former Grand Enchanter in the meantime.”

“ _Former_ Grand Enchanter,” significant glances passed between Evelyn and her companions.  “And _Magister_ Alexius?  That would be _magister_ , as in a Tevinter.”

“Yes, my lady,” the elf nodded, before walking away.

“Something’s not right,” Blackwall watched after the elven mage. 

They continued to explore the town, but didn’t get far before Evelyn found herself staring at one of the houses.  “Does anyone else feel that?”

“Feel what?”  Varric wondered.

“There’s something… wrong… in there,” she gestured to the house.

Varric tried the door, but found it locked.  “Should we knock?”

“No,” she shook her head.  “I don’t think we want to announce ourselves.  Can you get us in?”

“Of course,” he knelt by the lock and had it open three minutes later.  The door swung open.  There were no beds in the house or other signs that anyone actually lived there.  “It must be used for business.”

Evelyn poked around.  She found a large, heavy bag of money and a book.  It was a ledger of some kind.  There was a letter tucked in the front.  _Alexius was quite clear in his orders. We must scour the countryside to find more of the shards. Without them, the Venatori cannot claim the treasure our master seeks. For that, we need the oculara. Without them, the shards are nearly impossible to find, even if they are no longer cloaked by whatever magic hid them for all these centuries._

_There must be more Tranquil in the area — the rebels abandoned most of them when they fled their Circles. Remember, the skull will only attune properly if the Tranquil is in close proximity to one of the shards when the demon is forced to possess him. Even then, the blow must be delivered immediately. The oculara produced from Tranquil killed even minutes later failed to illuminate the shards when used._

_I trust you to continue your efforts in this matter. Our master expects success._

“Andraste’s Bloody Staff!”  She shouted.  Then took a deep breath.  “I’m going to find who did this and I will personally send those Tevinter Bastards to meet their victims on the other side of the veil.”

“What is it, Emerald?”  Varric laid a hand on her trembling shoulder.

“Do you know those skulls we saw near the camps?”  She hadn’t realized she was crying until she sniffed.

“The ones that you won’t touch and said ‘oooh, gross’, when Solas tried to convince you to look through one?  No one doubted you were of noble birth after that,” he recalled.

“They were Tranquil,” she wiped her eyes.  “They killed the Tranquil to create them.  I likely knew some of them.”

“Inquisition,” Blackwall’s voice choked.  “I’m not sure if you want to see this or not.”

Evelyn went to him, stepping into the next room.  There were shelves lined with the rejected skulls.  The skulls of her people who had been forced to have their connection to the Fade sundered.  “Blast and damnation!”  Her hand shot to her mouth.  “They didn’t deserve the Rite of Tranquility.  By the Maker, they deserved this even less.”  She knelt before one of the skulls and placed her hands gently on it.  “I’ll find out who did this.  They. Will. Pay.”

Varric kicked the wall and then kicked it again.  “With as many people as Meredith put through the Rite, a lot of these people were likely from Kirkwall.  They’re a huge reason Anders blew up the Chantry.”  He kicked the wall again.  “I’ve never wished before that he’d blown it up sooner.  I’ll help you find who did this, Emerald.  I’m sure I knew someone in here, too.”

“We’ll go through the book, we’ll find them,” she swore.

“I’ll send a letter to Harding,” Varric added.  “I want her and her scouts to come in and sneak any Tranquils in Redcliffe out before the guys in that letter do find them.”

 

They continued on towards the lake, which is when they encountered someone not happy about being returned to their home.  Conner Guerrin was arguing with one of his companions about whether he or his uncle, Teagan, was the rightful arl.

Connor’s guilt over what had happened in Redcliffe more than ten years before kept him from even wanting the position of arl and from trusting himself with his own freedom.  What he did know above all else, though, was that an alliance with Tevinter was a mistake.  “I may not trust myself, but I trust them even less.”  He informed Evelyn after she talked to him.  She doubted that he would have if she weren’t also a circle mage or rather a former circle mage.

“How did this happen?”  She wondered.  “What could possess a Southern Mage who helped break the shackles of the Chantry to ally with a group who couldn’t have our best interests at heart?”

“I can’t be certain, but…”  Connor hesitated.  “I don’t know how much of my story you know.  I… I was once possessed by a demon.”

“You were a child with no training,” Evelyn pointed out.  “You can’t be blamed for what happened.”

“If not me, then who?”  His voice rose.  “That isn’t the concern now.  I… I wouldn’t call the look the Grand Enchanter had possession, but she seems confused, even now at times, and strained.  I think it might be blood magic.”

“The Grand Enchanter is using blood magic!”  Blackwall interjected into the conversation.

“No,” Connor shook his head vigorously.  “Blood magic is being used on her.  Also… I don’t think all of the mages in Redcliffe are former circle mages.  Some seem… wrong.  I have a feeling that the magister sent in spies before he came himself.”

“He’s likely the one using blood magic,” Evelyn deduced.  “Connor, if you want to atone for what you did.  You can do so by helping Andraste’s cause and joining the Inquisition.”

“I don’t know… there are demons near the breach,” his voice trembled.  “I… I didn’t resist once.”

“Yet you are no longer an abomination, I think you know better than many why to resist,” she smiled softly.  “Consider my offer, will you?  Perhaps you can atone for the mistakes of your past.”

“I will consider it, my lady,” he agreed.

“We should get to the tavern,” Varric advised.  “Before Fiona and this magister decide to take their toys and go home.”

“We could only wish that they would,” Blackwall disagreed.

“Evie?”  A new voice interrupted them.

“Grand Enchanter Catalina?”  Fiona greeted the former head of the mages of Ostwick Circle.  “What is going on here?”

“Fiona has lost her mind,” Catalina informed her.  “She has basically sold the Free Mages into slavery to the Tevinter people.”

“How can she do that?  Why has no one stopped this?”  Evelyn demanded to know.

“No one is sure how,” Catalina admitted.  “We’ve been so afraid of the Templars, that we weren’t watching our backs.  There are those who support the treaty, but… I’ve seen one or two who claim they are from Ostwick, they even swear they know me.  I don’t know them.  There are also a few who idolize Tevinter and urge others to support the treaty.  That is added to those we lost at the Conclave… I thank the maker that you made it out.”

“We lost some good men and women, though,” Evelyn looked down at her hands.  “I believe Brian was there.”

“I’m sorry,” Catalina laid a hand on her arm.

“Who’s Brian,” Blackwall wanted to know.

“He was her brother,” Varric whispered.

“Is it true that Andraste saved you from the explosion and delivered you out of the Fade?”  Catalina was curious.

“I’m… I don’t remember what happened,” Evelyn admitted.  “My survival was definitely a miracle, though.”

“Then perhaps you can save the Free Mages of Thedas,” Catalina hoped.  “I know I’ve asked enough of you by sending you to the Conclave, but we need help.”

“I won’t turn my back on my people,” Evelyn swore.

**Author's Note:**

> A thank you to Eureka 234 who betad many of my chapters.2-35
> 
> Chapters 36- are unbetad.


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